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Hollywood Burbank Airport’s transportation art project to reset

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It’s back to the drawing board for the long-awaited art project at the transportation center at Hollywood Burbank Airport.

Members of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority voted 7-0 on Monday to restart the project, saying that the proposed artwork done by Arizona-based artist Fausto Fernandez was not what they were looking for. Commission President Zareh Sinanyan and Burbank commissioner Bill Wiggins were absent.

The authority agreed to terminate its $85,000 contract with Fernandez, which was awarded to the artist on Feb. 6, 2017. The airport had paid him $8,715 as of Monday, according to a staff report.

Frank Miller, executive director of the airport, said the authority’s Legal, Government and Environmental Affairs Committee met in August to discuss the art project and unanimously decided that ending its professional relationship with the artist and starting over would be for the best.

Fernandez was to be paid in eight installments after accomplishing certain benchmarks during the project. Additionally, he said the contract can be terminated by the authority on five days’ notice and that Fernandez will not be compensated for unfinished work, Miller said.

Fernandez was close to finishing one of the six panels for the project, which was a collage that incorporated an airplane and photographs of people.

In an email on Wednesday, Fernandez wrote he was unaware that the authority was planning to terminate the contract, adding that he is processing the information and will comment “once everything is resolved.”

Steve Madison, authority commissioner representing Pasadena, said the artwork didn’t fit with what officials want.

“These works, as admirable as they may be, did not communicate what we wanted to communicate,” said Madison. “I felt they were not identifiable with the three cities.”

Though the authority will be ending the contract, Miller said the airport will be negotiating a severance payment for Fernandez in exchange for a full release from the contract.

In addition to terminating its contract with the artist, the authority agreed to end its agreement with Gail M. Goldman Associates, the art consultant used by the airport to help with the art project.

In September 2015, authority members awarded Goldman a $22,500 contract to coordinate the project, which would fulfill Burbank’s Art in Public Places requirement on large-scale developments such as the transportation center. In August 2016, the authority increased the contract by $10,000 to coincide with changes to the project, Miller said.

As of Monday, the authority had paid Goldman $16,600 for her assistance, according to the staff report.

So far, the authority has spent $114,515 on the art project — that includes fees paid to Fernandez, Goldman and $89,200 of a $172,731 contract with Gopher Sign Co.

Miller said the contract with Gopher will remain intact, saying the company is in charge of installing the artwork onto the six panels.

The authority has two other agreements — a $38,000 contract with Artefact Designs to digitally reproduce the physical artwork and an $18,000 contract with Wellington Signs to install the signs onto the side of the transportation center.

Miller said staff will return at a future meeting with new proposals on how to complete the art project.

anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpio

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