The mission of the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture is to advance arts, culture, and creativity throughout LA County. We fulfill our mission by providing services and support in areas including grants and technical assistance for nonprofit organizations; professional development opportunities; commissioning civic artworks and managing the County’s civic art collection; implementing countywide arts education initiatives; research and evaluation; career pathways in the creative economy; free community programs; and cross sector creative strategies that address civic issues. This work is framed by the County’s Cultural Equity and Inclusion Initiative and a longstanding commitment to fostering access to the arts.
Benjamin Ball and Gaston Nogues of Ball-Nogues Studio created a suspended sculpture titled Drop-in Distraction for the Southwest Building and Safety Permit Office lobby. This is where engineers, architects and contractors apply for construction permits. Drop-in Distraction expresses the artists’ desire to blur art and architecture. Composed of over one thousand individual nickel and brass plated bead chains hanging from custom-made aluminum ceiling panels, the work exemplifies the artists’ experimental and inventive approach to sculpture. While lightweight and diaphanous, the sculpture has a voluminous and undulating presence intended to intrigue the waiting clientele.
About the Artist:
Benjamin Ball and Gaston Nogues of LA-based Ball-Nogues Studio, began their practice together after having met as Sci-Arc undergraduates. Prior to partnering in business, Benjamin Ball worked for several Los Angeles architecture firms including Gehry & Associates and Ramer Architecture, and Gaston Nogues worked as a product designer for Gehry Partners. As a Studio, Ball and Nogues have completed designs and installations for the New York Museum of Modern Art / P.S. 1, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art and Materials & Applications. In the fall of 2008, they were invited to install their artwork, Echoes Converge, at the 2008 Architecture Biennial in Venice, Italy.