The last weekend of February, Sharif Hussein Farrag, a ceramic artist, raced colorful clay rats that he sculpted and placed on motorized vehicles around a sports field outside the Santa Monica Airport.
The performative art piece was part of Frieze Los Angeles, a weekend-long contemporary art show, and Mr. Farrag, dressed in a white racing suit and waving a black and white checkered racing flag, explained to the steady stream of art critics, artists, collectors and spectators that it symbolized the “rat race” of capitalism.
“It was a lot of attention,” said Mr. Farrag, 30, who is currently represented by François Ghebaly, a gallery in Los Angeles, but was doing this piece for the Art Production Fund, which supports public art projects across the country. “I was on display with my art.”
But that was just the beginning of a whirlwind week.
A week later, on March 9, he was at the Eden Garden Bar and Grill, a restaurant in Pasadena, Calif., marrying Alexandra Ann Plzak, 27, his girlfriend since college.
“I went right from this crazy week for my career into this week where all my friends were like, ‘My homie is getting married,’’ he said.
The timing of the wedding was deliberate. “Having it near Frieze meant some of my art friends could stay in town an extra couple of days and join,” Mr. Farrag said.
