This weekend is especially for local art lovers, though film fans, Batman and Lamborghini afficianados, and others will find plenty to love, too.
By now most of us have heard that the way we vote will be changing in 2020, and that instead of one day to go to a neighborhood polling place, we’ll have 11 days to visit one of 1,000 new regional voting centers in LA County. So how will that work? You can find out this weekend by taking the new system for a test run in a special mock election at one of 50 locations this Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (The closest location to the Larchmont area is probably the Pio Pico branch library, at 694 S. Oxford Ave., but check the list for others if you’ll be out and about.) You can even start marking a sample ballot before you go at https://isb.lavote.net/
Later, at 2 p.m. on Saturday, come back to another branch library – the John C. Fremont branch, 6121 Melrose Ave., for the latest staged reading from the Los Angeles Play Readers. This week’s performance is Maxwell Anderson’s thriller, “The Bad Seed.” According to the library, “The scene is a small town where Colonel and Christine Penmark live with their daughter, Rhoda. On the surface she appears sweet, charming, full of old-fashioned graces, loved by her parents, admired by all her elders. But Rhoda’s mother has an uneasy feeling about her…” The performance is free and open to everyone.
Later, starting at 4 p.m. on Saturday, we have the first of several art events this weekend. It’s an artist talk at the LaunchLA gallery, 170 S. La Brea, featuring currently exhibiting artists Samuelle Richardson and Joy Ray in discussion with Andi Campognone, director and curator of MOAH Lancaster, who also curates the two artists’ joint show, “Beyond/Within” at the gallery. According to LaunchLA, “The artworks of Joy Ray and Samuelle Richardson are linked in three intriguing ways: Both artists use fabric as a primary material; both artists favor black and white; and both artists reject photographic realism in favor of creating mysterious new realms.” Come and learn more about their intriguing works.
Just an hour later, over at the TAG gallery, 5458 Wilshire Blvd., there will be an opening reception, from 5-8 p.m. on Saturday, for three new shows: Cheryl Dimont’s Astoria, Fielden Harper’s City Scene III, and Pam Douglas’ Sanctuary. Dimont’s expressionistic work is based on a series of photographs of abandoned buildings and machinery from Astoria, Oregon, and nearby Fort Stevens. Harper’s paintings explore iconic images from our city, and Douglas’ 60-foot installation represents our current refugee crisis via life-sized drawings of refugees walking behind a chain-link fence, and children trapped behind ropes, rendered in charcoal, chalk, linen and burlap.
Meanwhile, over at the Craft Contemporary, you can also visit an opening reception, from 6-9 p.m. on Saturday, for three more new shows – Finding the Center: Works by Echiko Ohira, Cynthia Minet: Jacked, and RAW: Craft, Commodity, and Capitalism. Ohira’s work is “founded upon the use of repurposed paper, with her love of the material springing from her childhood in Japan and its vast paper traditions”…while “Minet’s colorful, multi-media installation is one-part animal and one-part machine,” addressing “our complicated relationship with petrochemicals and the specific cultural and geological history of the Miracle Mile neighborhood”…and RAW “features nine contemporary artists who work with a range of commodities as artistic material to explore the historical and contemporary effects of global capitalism.” The musem says “works in the exhibition will include sculptural pieces and installations created from cotton, sugar, copper, salt, porcelain, water, and other materials” from artists Charmaine Bee, Atul Bhalla, Sonya Clark, Raksha Parekh, Jovencio de la Paz, Ignacio Perez Meruane, Amor Muñoz, Juana Valdes, and Ken + Julia Yonetani. Admission is free for museum members and $12 for the public.
Later, it’s not the Fourth of July, but you may hear some familiar booming in the skies over the Wilshire Country Club, at dusk on Saturday, as a big fireworks show caps an evening of activities celebrating the club’s 100th anniversary. While the on-site events are for members only, the whole neighborhood should be able to see the culminating pyrotechnics, just like every July 4th. So find a good rooftop, or just a patch of sky unobstructed by trees, sit back, and enjoy the show.
Meanwhile, as Halloween approaches, horror film fans will have fun this weekend, as Hulu and the American Cinematheque present the 2019 Beyond Fest at the Egyptian Theater, 6712 Hollywood Blvd. The festival, actually running from September 25-October 8, is billed as “the highest-attended genre film festival in the U.S.” It will include 39 feature films – including the West Coast premieres of Parasite, JoJo Rabbit, Dolemite is My Name, Color Out of Space, The Lodge, and the world premiere of Mister America. It will also include reunion anniversary screenings of Natural Born Killers, and Jennifer’s Body, 13 free screenings, many special guests, and other special events. Check the link above for the full schedule and tickets.
And finally this weekend, starting at 8 a.m. on Sunday, it’s time for the monthly Cruise-in event at the Petersen Museum, this month featuring both Batman Day and Lamborghini automobiles (Bruce Wayne’s car of choice in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy). Channel your inner superhero (Batman attire is encouraged!) and celebrate the Caped Crusader’s 80th birthday by perusing an array of visiting Lamborghinis and Batmobiles…including the museum’s own LEGO® Batcycle. It will all happen on the top level of the museum’s parking structure, and the first 100 visitors will receive a free limited-edition Batmobile poster. Those who arrive in costume will also receive $2 off museum admission. Coffee and bagels will be provided for all visitors.
Have a great weekend!
