art

It’s been five years since “Call My Agent!,” known in its home country as “Dix pour cent” (“10 percent”), ended with the staff of Paris’ bankrupt ASK talent agency moving en masse toward the exit, as in the closing moments of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

The rich workplace comedy mounted four seasons from 2015 to 2020; the fourth was made without its creator, Fanny Herrero (she went on to create the fine but less successful “Standing Up,” about Parisian comics). But she has returned, along with “Standing Up” writer Lison Daniel, for “Call My Agent! The Movie,” premiering Thursday on Netflix, which picks up the scattered ensemble more or less where they imagined they’d be when the series ended, and gets them back in the same frame.

As a movie, it’s its own sort of beast — a complete statement in a single package, with not just A and B stories, but C and D as well, and arcs that might develop over a season of the show compressed into a couple of hours. But its essentials are essentially unchanged: It’s still about the difficulty of making art, and the often unsavory business that lets art get made, with known actors playing fun house versions of themselves and our heroes attempting to wrangle them into order, with whatever works — lies, bribes, real shared feelings. The regular cast, many of whom Americans will first have met here, still feel identical with their characters, rather than just professionals who have been paid to play them, so that even when the action is outlandish the emotions are real.

The focus here is on the fierce Andréa (Camille Cottin), who has left agenting and is about to direct her first movie, a drama set in the woods, and Noémie (Laure Calamy), whom Andrea hires as a replacement producer — she has become the producer of a hit workplace comedy, “Les Colleagues,” the sort of show that produces a lot of branded merch — believing that she can mold Noémie to her will. On the domestic front, Andréa separated from partner Colette (Ophélia Kolb), a co-parent to her daughter Flora — some sticky questions will arrive, doubling the pressure.

Noémie is still with Mathias (Thibault de Montalembert), once the most formidable of agents, who has quieted down somewhat owing to a Season 4 heart attack, and the fact that he’s working in the agency his daughter Camille (Fanny Sidney) announced at the end of the series. He’s feeling old (comparatively, he is, at 64 — though Liliane Rovère as agent emeritus Arlette beats him at 93) and things with Noémie are not great, which sets the stage for some romantic comedy, including a wild boar.

Andréa’s movie brings the old cast together, including sensitive junior agent turned aspiring actor Hervé (Nicolas Maury), and I am glad to see them. (Stéfi Celma’s Sophia, a receptionist turned actor, is sadly missing.) Much goes wrong, before things go right. (It’s a comedy, they will — though there are some moving dramatic moments along the way.) To be sure, there are no backstage comedies — or dramas, or dramedies — in which nothing goes wrong, or things even go mostly right. Disaster is the air they breathe.

On the eve of production, Andrea loses her male lead (Laurent Lafitte as himself) to a Wes Anderson movie; the psychologically delicate actor they get to replace him, Vincent Macaigne as himself, who’s represented by former ASK agent Gabriel (Grégory Montel), now working for their old rival, has a messy history with the other lead, Laetitia Casta, also as herself. They can barely work together. (There will be a bit of romantic comedy wrapped around this thread, as well.)

Then there’s a storm.

The French actors playing themselves are not well known here — Casta may be more familiar as a ’90s supermodel, for those who are familiar with that sort of thing — but Americans have been given the gift of cameos from Eva Longoria and an uncredited George Clooney who takes a comically unproductive lunch meeting with Andrea, crashed, in more than one sense, by Noémie.

Though the series finale made for a satisfying ending, there was already talk then of another season or a film. Still, “The Movie” arrives seemingly out of left field, as sort of a happy surprise. It doesn’t betray its legacy. We know from the supermarket magazines and internet scandal sites that some actors are seemingly as crazy as these actors pretend to be. But somehow movies get made. Most every show business satire is also a show business celebration. There’s no business like it.

Comparing the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art to a spaceship has become an internet cliche, but the otherworldly campus really does feel like it exists in a galaxy far, far away. Nestled in Exposition Park beside the Natural History Museum and down the block from the soon-to-open Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center (with its actual spaceship), the Lucas Museum’s Ma Yansong-designed building sticks out like a green thumb.

There are 11 acres of lush public park space to explore, dotted with “Star Wars”-themed statues and a hanging garden, as well as benches and an amphitheater for outdoor events. A waterfall tucked on the north end of the building acts as a cooling mechanism for the 300,000-square-foot structure, but also serves as a gathering spot for jovial seagulls.

If you get peckish, there are two options: A cafe on the ground floor with typical sandwich and salad fare as well as a Starbucks; and a fifth-floor restaurant called Skywalker Grill with a full bar, curved cherry wood walls and lovely views of downtown L.A. (Nab a reservation or you’ll likely never get in.)

There are 100,000 square feet of gallery space, with the art spread mostly across the fourth floor — and in a fifth-floor murals gallery where you’ll find a selection of Banksys hidden in a back corner. More than 30 discrete galleries have something for almost everyone and are curated by broad themes including motherhood, community, romance, sports, science fiction and comics.

And, yes, there is a “Star Wars” exhibit, but it’s just a small part of the overall scene. If you come explicitly for that, your day will be filled with unexpected discovery.

Here’s a useful map to guide your way.

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1. Galleries
2. Galleries
3. Library
4. Sculpture garden 

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5. Education lobby
6. Lucas plaza
7. Oculus
8. Galleries
9. Private event space
10. Main lobby
11. Cafe
12. Gift shop 

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13. Theaters
14. Skywalker Grill
15. Galleries
16. The History of Narrative Art: Heroes, Myths, The Sacred
17. Waterfall 

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4th Floor Galleries 

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4th Floor Galleries 

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4th Floor Galleries 

Uzbek and Saudi creative communities gathered in Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter to mark the 35th anniversary of Uzbekistan’s independence through a unique celebration of shared artistic heritage.

Titled The Art of Al-Mounamnamat: From Bukhara to Arabia — Stories Along the Routes of the Sacred, the exhibition at The Space in Al-Mashtal brought together artists, academics, and diplomats to examine how Islamic miniature art serves as a living bridge between Central Asia and the Arab world.

The event featured panel discussions on how manuscript illustration, sacred geometry, and visual storytelling have documented spiritual and cultural practices across generations. Tracing the historic journey of miniature painting from Transoxiana to the modern Middle East, participants explored how the borderless medium continues to evolve.

Nodirjon Turgunov, ambassador of Uzbekistan to Saudi Arabia, said: “Events like The Art of Al-Mounamnamat strengthen ties between Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan by bringing people together through Islamic art and our shared cultural heritage. They offer an opportunity to learn about one another’s traditions, exchange ideas and build friendships that deepen the relationship between our countries.

“Holding this event in Riyadh is particularly meaningful. Saudi Arabia has great potential in the field of Islamic art, and we see opportunities for closer cooperation between our artists and cultural institutions. We want to develop cultural diplomacy as a way to bring our peoples closer together, encouraging exhibitions, creative exchanges and joint initiatives. Through these connections, we can celebrate our shared heritage while creating new opportunities for future generations.”

Turgunov added: “As a next step, we plan to organize a similar exhibition featuring Saudi artists in Uzbekistan in the coming years, giving Uzbek audiences an opportunity to discover and appreciate Saudi artistic traditions. We also hope to expand these exchanges to other art forms that reflect the rich cultural heritage of our two nations, building a lasting dialogue between our artists and communities.”

In a session titled From Bukhara to Arabia: Contemporary Practice and Artistic Dialogue, contemporary miniature painter Firuz Kurbanov from Bukhara joined Fahad Al-Jebreen, a Saudi visual artist and assistant professor of art education at King Saud University, to discuss how traditional techniques inform modern creative education.

Highlighting the diplomatic weight of cultural programming, Mirzohid Eshonkulov, first secretary at the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Riyadh, highlighted the role of creative engagement in deepening bilateral ties.

“It’s a very important part of bilateral and multilateral relations, because we also call this ‘people-to-people’ diplomacy, because when people love each other, the governments strengthen bilateral relations,” Eshonkulov said. “That’s why we are, as an embassy, ready to boost these cultural ties in Mounamnamat.”

The personal resonance of the art form was highlighted during a joint presentation by Kurbanov and Saudi artist Afnan Tash, founder of Al-Mihrab.

Tash recalled how her journey into miniature painting began following her experience during the Hajj pilgrimage in Makkah in 2018.

“Once I went to this journey and I came back, I was unable to talk; I was unable to express my feelings,” Tash said, adding that she subsequently discovered miniature art as an expressive outlet. She said that her recent works draw inspiration from historic Hajj certificates, created to honor her parents who completed the pilgrimage seven decades ago.

Responding to her narrative, Kurbanov said that while Tash’s work echoes the pattern work of his own Central Asian cultural tradition, his individual practice approaches miniatures through mathematical algorithms and a structured scientific lens.

The evening illustrated how Islamic storytelling continues to serve as an effective mechanism for soft diplomacy, uniting artists across regions through a shared aesthetic tradition.

George Lucas and Mellody Hobson want their massive spaceship of a museum to be an experience. Across 300,000 square feet and 11 acres of park space, there’s a lot to take in. Staring up at the 90-foot-diameter oculus four stories above the entrance plaza makes one feel like a speck in the galaxy.

Instead of trying to conquer everything on a first visit — there are more than 1,300 works — hit our highlights below. If you aim to walk around the striking building to view a mishmash of masterpieces, children’s illustrations, movie memorabilia that’s heavy on “Star Wars” and comic strips, you’ll have a good time. If you’re hoping to learn about what’s on display or how adjacent pieces relate, curb your enthusiasm. It’s almost as if the museum is making a statement: you don’t need some analysis to connect with the works. If you complain about the collection, the co-founders don’t care. “Is it fine art? It’s finer art because it’s actually telling a story,” Lucas said at a museum party last week.

The 90-foot-diameter oculus provides unique viewing from the fourth-floor gallery.

(Ariana Drehsler / For The Times)

The gee-whiz elevators at the entrance of the museum.

(Ariana Drehsler / For The Times)

Whoosh up in the glass-tube elevators to the massive fourth floor to begin. Best to explore the bulk of the galleries when your gas tank is full. Then head up a floor to see the murals. Take a break at the rooftop Skywalker Grill before ambling to the library and grounds. Skip the first floor’s “History of Narrative Art.” The exhibition is mostly screens, projections and reproductions, with a handful of great works from the 16th and 17th centuries and feels superficial at times. If you care about whether something is an original or a copy, check the gallery labels. Hungry for more detail? There’s a $30 exhibition catalog in the gift shop.

Prepare to get your steps in and feel a little turned around once it opens Sept. 22. Admission is $25 for adults, free for kids.

Inside the Universalist Unitarian Church of Riverside, a line of masked people filed into the red-lighted chapel, one by one, to take part in the rite of confession.

The private booth was framed in flowers, and rather than a priest listening inside, it was a microphone recording their confessions, to be played at an upcoming art exhibition. The brick triangle-roofed church that held the booth has stood since opening in 1892; that night, it was the site of a masquerade, or as Riverside artist Perry Picasshoe called it, the “Masqueerade.”

Picasshoe, whose real name is Neveah Marquez, hosted the event, which had an entirely LGBTQ+ guest list and one requirement: Bring a mask, whatever that looks like to you.

Marquez, a 26-year-old transgender woman robed entirely in red, stood at the pews and danced to the experimental electronic DJ sets and drag performances as guests entered in masks that ranged from papier-mâché deer antlers to collaged photos of eyes and lips.

The event came as a celebration ahead of the Riverside native’s first solo exhibition, “SagradX,” which will open Saturday at Riverside Art Museum and remain through Jan. 31.

The recorded confessions, layered over one another until they become an unintelligible cacophony, represent just one piece of the 25 paintings, photographs and interactive displays in the exhibition. The show explores the meaning of “sacred” as Marquez documents her most private places and experiences, and asks viewers to consider what they hold sacred.

The exhibition, she says, began with heartbreak.

Neveah Marquez (Perry Picasshoe), 26, sits inside the Riverside Art Museum.

(Carlin Stiehl / For De Los)

“The first time I started thinking about sacredness … was when my ex-partner brought somebody into our bed,” said Marquez.

“I was crying, distraught, and drove over to these hills over Lake Mathews [in Riverside] and I realized: The bedroom was sacred to me. That’s why it hurt so much. And I started thinking, if it wasn’t sacred to them, how do we decide what is sacred to each of us?”

The very headboard of that bed sits in the exhibition; on it, Marquez painted fairy-tale creatures representing the lovers gallivanting across the woods.

While Marquez’s experience with betrayal sparked the idea, the exhibition explores sanctity in many different scenarios: In one, the artist plays with the concept of the digital safe space by inviting guests to look through her phone as she is tied on a handmade iron-wrought cross. Inside the exhibition space, she uses a small painter’s brush to slowly paint the white walls red over the course of the show.

In curating the exhibition, Marquez began to look inward, painting and photographing herself in ways she never had before: through the lens of femininity. She lived the previous 26 years of her life as a man, growing up religious to the point that she once considered becoming a priest. The paintings serve as portals into a part of her that she long held inside.

“I describe it like having blurry vision your whole life and not realizing how clearly you can see, until you put glasses on,” Marquez said. “That’s how painting myself as a woman felt.”

Neveah Marquez (Perry Picasshoe) considers what is sacred.

(Carlin Stiehl / For De Los)

Though she initially identified with her male birth name, the more she painted herself in Venus-like, feminine poses and with longer hair, her understanding of her identity shifted. Illuminated by her signature scarlet red clothing and tastefully shrouded in sheets, the soft expression on her face was inspired by Raphael’s “La Fornarina.”

“I wasn’t thinking much of it in the moment, but as I kept painting these portraits, I was thinking a lot about myself and thinking about gender and my identity,” Marquez said. “Through my art process, I realized: ‘Maybe I would be a pretty woman.’ That’s what scared me the most from transitioning, was not feeling like I would be beautiful enough.”

In “SagradX,” Marquez’s body is documented vulnerably; easing into her own identity becoming a painfully honest artistic process, which the audience is now invited to watch.

“I feel like I don’t paint very often because when I do, it’s just so emotionally intense. Like when Olivia Rodrigo wrote that she’s scared of her guitar because she couldn’t lie to it, that’s how I feel about painting,” Marquez said. “I can’t lie to my painting.”

Neveah Marquez (Perry Picasshoe) wears long, flowing red clothes.

(Carlin Stiehl / For De Los)

Aside from her self-portraits, Marquez includes photographs of her ice blocks project, in which she placed 25-pound blocks where immigration enforcement raids took place in the Inland Empire last year. These were once safe places that she says have been “desecrated with fear.”

Marquez’s personal journal, which documented her inner joys and struggles over the last year, is also open on a table in the exhibition for guests to read through, draw over, or tear. For Marquez, “SagradX” was the catalyst to “let everything out.”

“If the show is about vulnerability, I need to practice that for myself as well. Otherwise, you would see in the work that there’s a blockage, you can sense when artists aren’t fully honest,” Marquez said. “I want people to question, ‘What is sacred to you?’ If I give you access to something sacred to me, what will you do with that?”

I wasn’t born in Los Angeles, but it’s the city that raised me. I moved here fresh out of college with a doe-eyed dream of stepping into the kind of art scene I’d read about in history books. Instead, it quickly became clear that I wasn’t going to be able to just waltz in with my Southern charm and big smile; there would need to be some sort of hack into the art world — a place rife with unspoken roles and gatekeeping — if I wanted to get anywhere as a non-nepo artist.

After years of blister-inducing heels-on-the-ground gallery hopping and late-night schmoozing, I found myself falling in love with this city and slowly realizing that the best parts of L.A. were rarely found in mainstream spaces. There’s an inventiveness here that comes from the sprawl of the city — artists like myself who are constantly improvising, building their own ecosystems because nothing is handed to them. I fell in love with how “never-ending” the artist’s practice can feel in Los Angeles, how a studio visit can veer into an hours-long conversation about life. It made the city feel less like a scene to fit into and more like a living, breathing network you have to contribute to before receiving anything back.

In 2014, Alex Benzer and I decided to put our hard-earned knowledge to work by creating Curate LA: a community-driven platform designed to pull back the curtain on the Los Angeles art world by mapping under-the-radar exhibitions and adventurous artist-run spaces, and connecting our audiences directly with artists, curators, galleries and collectors through candid interviews, weekly guides and real-time event recommendations. Because despite appearances, an art scene isn’t held up by pristine white walls; it’s built by the artists sharing a cig and an idea outside on the sidewalk, the gallerists stocking the free booze and championing new voices, and the person you meet sitting at the front desk who tells you about the cute spot around the corner with affordable bites.

For me, an ideal L.A. weekend is a little bit of all of that: a great studio visit that turns into an unexpected conversation, stumbling onto an unconventional exhibition of an artist I’ve never heard of, eating something delicious with friends who I ran into at a show opening, and ending the night at a bar where half of the room just spilled out from the gallery down the street. What I’ve made for you is my personal, slightly circuitous, weekend guide to Los Angeles’ sprawling creative landscape. These are my snapshots of the places and people that I return to, the ones that have fed me, surprised me, taught me something or made a long day of circling the block to find parking impossible to forget.

FRIDAY: Downtown → MacArthur Park → Koreatown

Greg Ito with “Personal Effects,” 2026, “The Spectrum Within,” 2025 and “Love is a Vessel,” 2026.

1. My first stop is visiting Greg Ito at his DTLA studio. I love the way his work draws me into a layered dreamscape and rearranges my sense of time and space. Greg is also a great storyteller. Pulling from archival family photos and childhood memories as a fourth-generation Angeleno in West L.A., his work weaves together a certain kind of nostalgia that always makes for a heartfelt studio visit. DM @gregitooo for availability and address.

   

   Eduardo Medrano at John Doe Gallery.

2. From there, I head over to John Doe Gallery, which is run by two artists, Eduardo Medrano Jr. and Alfonso Gonzalez Jr. They show some of the best up-and-coming artists in Los Angeles, and their openings are always a good time. It’s the kind of place where I’m just as likely to run into someone I know as I am to discover someone I don’t, which in my opinion is exactly what a good art space should do. 107 E. 11th St., Los Angeles. DM @johndoegallery for open hours.

   

   Vita Kari in front of “My Girlfriend Named Herself After a Water Bottle,” 2024, at their DTLA studio. Kari wears Barrio Drive.

3. You might recognize Vita Kari as “The craziest thing about being creative” personality from IG, but what you might not know is that they completed their MFA with a thesis on “Virality as Form,” wherein lies the proof in the pudding, a.k.a. their art. Vita uses textiles, performance and video to speak about internet culture, along with stunning visuals that incorporate their family’s Middle Eastern diaspora and history. DM @vitakari for availability and address.

   

   Samala Meza in her DTLA studio with works in progress.

4. I make my way over to Samala Meza, who creates soft, sexy paintings that look like she literally breathed a secret into them. Her studio is situated at Princess Castle, an artist-run studio space, so you can pop over to some other great artists while you’re there. DM @samalameza for availability and address.

   

   Devin Troy Strother on the roof of his studio overlooking DTLA.

5. Devin Troy Strother is an L.A.-born and -based artist and co-founder of Coloured Publishing, a printing press making books, zines, T-shirts and other editioned works, all by artists of color. Nestled among the produce district, there’s never a dull moment in Devin’s studio. Often working all hours of the night, there’s usually a cast of characters coming in and out, similar to the subjects you’ll see throughout his paintings. DM @devintroy for availability and address.

   

   Commonwealth and Council Team (L to R clockwise): Isabel Einaudi, Audrey Bui, Brenda Reyes-Chavez, Oliver Sweet and Young Chung.

6. What began as an artist-run exhibition space in Young Chung’s apartment 15 years ago has grown to be one of L.A.’s most championed emerging artist safe havens, Commonwealth and Council. I’ll always make time for this space if I’m in the neighborhood. 3006 W. 7th St., Suite 220, Los Angeles, door code: 01220 (please note that this space is not wheelchair–accessible). Thursday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., @commonwealthandcouncil

   

   Holcomb in front of the Prince. Styled by Jocelyn Corona, wearing AYANEGUI, TANAMACHI and Vacr.

7. To round out the day, I recommend decompressing at the Prince in K-Town, a place where you can spot celebrities and L.A. artists under one roof. Many galleries have had their after-parties here, where you can catch up on the night’s gossip in a dimly lit booth over a kimchi pancake. 3198 1/2 W 7th St., Los Angeles. Call before your visit to confirm hours and dining details (this space is also not wheelchair–accessible). princektown.com

SATURDAY: Beverly Hills → Hollywood → Eastside

Jerson Hondall in the library of Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills.

8. I start the day by visiting one of my favorite people in the L.A. art scene, Jerson Hondall. Jerson worked for Curate LA back in the day, but now you can find him working as an artist liaison at Gagosian Gallery and serving on the board of LACE. He is a literal art encyclopedia, which you can see through his Instagram series #dosisdiariadearte, and he is one of the loveliest people you will find, so don’t be afraid to approach him if you see him out and about. DM @jersonhondall for availability.

   

   Jonny Negron in his Los Feliz studio featuring works in progress “virtue signal” and “tellurian lube.”

9. Next, I head east to Los Feliz to visit Jonny Negron at his home studio. His paintings make you feel like you’re sitting across the bar from some of the coolest people in the room. You might recognize his work, which was commissioned for Rosalía’s single “Dolerme.” There’s something about seeing his works in the exact place where they were made that makes the paintings feel even more alive. DM @jonnynegron777 for availability and address.

   

   LAST Projects exterior in Lincoln Heights with co-founder Ilona Berger and pup.

10. I then make my way to Lincoln Heights and visit LAST Projects, an alternative space and gem. This gallery has given many artists in L.A. their first shows in their early careers (myself included). It’s one of those places where I know I’m going to see something that makes me pause, even if I have no idea what I’m walking into beforehand. 206 S. Ave. 20, Los Angeles. Open Thursday, 1 to 5 p.m. and Sunday, 1 to 6 p.m. @last_projects

    

11. Next I visit Drex, owned and curated by Vivian Hicks, a vintage homeware store tucked into Cypress Park. With a knowledge of designers that is truly unmatched, Vivian scours the internet and estate sales to hand-select some of the most desired American Modern, Italian and French design collectibles ranging from the early 20th century to the early 2000s. DM @drex.drex.drex for an appointment and address.

    

    Huevos a la Mexicana breakfast burrito at Lupita’s Restaurant in Cypress Park.

12. I skipped breakfast, so Vivian recommends I go around the corner to Lupita’s Restaurant, and they do not disappoint with their huevos a la Mexicana breakfast burrito. Simple but effective. 2634 Idell St., Los Angeles. Open daily 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

    

    Ever Velasquez outside of Charlie James Gallery on Chunk King Road, Chinatown.

13. Satiated, I hop over to Chinatown to visit curator Ever Velasquez at Charlie James Gallery. While her name might not be on the door, Ever is the star of the show, putting together show after show of L.A.’s hottest rising artists. 969 Chung King Road, Los Angeles. Open Tuesday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and by appointment. @charliejamesgallery @ever.a.k.a.thegirlabouttown

    

    Human Resources exterior in Chinatown.

14. A few blocks away, there is Human Resources. An L.A. staple, HRLA has been around for 16 years now and continues to showcase some of the most experimental works coming out of the city. This space is truly a breeding ground for pure creativity and expression. Make sure to check the calendar on their website to see what’s happening. 410 Cottage Home St., Los Angeles. @humanresourcesla

    

    Drinks at El Prado in Echo Park.

15. Finally, I end the day at El Prado, a local artist watering hole. Nick Fisher, the owner, used to bartend his personal bar called FISHTANK at gallery openings and come up with the craziest drink concoctions and home-brewed beers on theme with whatever exhibition was opening that evening. With names like the Loudspeaker cocktail and a Blood and Fire Smoked Lager, they were sure to get you litty. You can still sample his creations at the bar, albeit they might not be as experimental as they once were. 1805 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles. Open Monday to Friday, 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., Saturday to Sunday, 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. @ficknish, @elpradobar

SUNDAY: South L.A. → Mid-City → Pico

Aleza Zheng in her South L.A. studio featuring “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” 2026, “Of Providence,” 2026 and “All That Is In Heaven,” 2026.

16. I start Sunday with Aleza Zheng at the artist-run Tlaloc Studios. Much like her artwork, she is quite the whimsical, spontaneous person. The first time we met, I was deep in the trenches of L.A. Art Week, starving at my probably fifth art event of the day. I was ready to call it quits when Aleza popped out of her car, dressed to the nines, with multiple bags of In-N-Out. She’s been feeding me ever since. DM @alezazheng for availability and address.

    

    Dominique Clayton at Harun Coffee in Leimert Park.

17. From there I spend some time with Dominique Clayton in the heart of Leimert Park, where she was born and raised. Dominique is an L.A. native, curator and woman about town. She’s currently organizing Mom’s Night Out at Harun Coffee, a bimonthly meetup of mothers looking to connect with other creatives and artist moms. I love the way Dominique thinks about community — not as some abstract art world buzzword, but something you have to actually cultivate IRL. DM @lookatdominique to connect.

    

    Jamal Hasef in front of his mural “Sky is the Limit,” 2026 on 11th & Vernon in Leimert Park.

18. I make my way to see Jamal Hasef, who uses paint to move between the personal and the political, digging into the complex and sublime afterlives of the African diaspora in his canvases and portraits. You can check out his mural on the corner of 11th and Vernon or visit him at his studio in nearby Baldwin Hills. @_hasef_ DM for availability and address.

    

    Holcomb in front of Watts Towers in Watts, wearing Desigual and styled by Jocelyn Corona.

19. If you haven’t heard of or visited the fairy-tale world of Simon Rodia’s Watts Towers, you’re in for a treat. Next door to the famous landmark is the Watts Towers Arts Center, a historical site of political activism and assemblage art, most notably by L.A. legendary artist Noah Purifoy, who once ran the gallery. I love bringing people here because it reminds me of why I’m so enamored with the city: It’s weird, completely handmade and unlike anything else. 1727 E. 107th St., Los Angeles. Gallery hours are Wednesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., but you can check out the towers from the street any day of the week. wattstowers.org

    

    Books purchased from Reparations Club in Mid City (L to R): “Assata: An Autobiography,” “Love Poems’ by Nikki Giovanni, “Directed by Desire: The Collection of Poems” by June Jordan and “Communion: The Female Search for Love” by bell hooks.

20. By now I’m ready for some retail therapy, so I head to Reparations Club in Mid-City, my absolute favorite bookstore in Los Angeles. I could buy the entire store if my wallet and storage would allow, but on this particular trip my haul was “Assata: An Autobiography” by Assata Shakur, “Love Poems” by Nikki Giovanni, “Communion: The Female Search for Love” by bell hooks and “Directed by Desire: The Collected Poems of June Jordan.” Considering the state of literacy we are facing in this AI-driven world, I’d say we all could benefit from frequent visits here. 3054 S. Victoria Ave., Los Angeles. Open Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. @reparations.club

    

21. And finally, I end the weekend with pure sustenance. My last stop is Merkato, an Ethiopian cafe where the walls are filled with eclectic knickknacks and the plates are eat-with-your-hands style, packed with flavorful goodness; it’s the kind of meal that makes you want to linger. If you have the time, don’t skip out on the traditional Ethiopian coffee. 1036 1/2 S. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles. Open daily 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Shelley Holcomb is an artist, curator, writer and cultural leader, whose work spans painting, installation, storytelling, advocacy and making art more accessible.

Meow Wolf is getting closer to unveiling its Los Angeles locale. When doors open — the company is targeting late 2026 — anticipate a walk-around, floor-to-ceiling experience that pays homage to the art of cinema with a sci-fi, psychedelic-like bent.

And to bring that vision to life, the Santa Fe, N.M.-based experiential art collective will be working with nearly 40 L.A. artists across multiple mediums. Expect more than a dozen sculptural and diorama artists to contribute, along with those who specialize in mixed media for interactive and video content. Local artists will also create a number of murals for the space, and a handful of artists have been chosen to curate their own life-size rooms in the venue at West L.A.’s Howard Hughes entertainment complex.

Artist Gabriela Ruiz will be contributing a major piece to Meow Wolf L.A.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

While the bulk of a Meow Wolf exhibition is envisioned and designed by a core in-house team in Santa Fe, the company partners with dozens of local artists in each city to ensure a local flavor. Here in Los Angeles, the task of curating L.A. artists fell heavily to Han Santana-Sayles. As a SoCal native from a Mexican American family, Santana-Sayles has told me, “I would be dishonored” if the exhibit failed in its mission to capture the breadth of the L.A. population.

“It’s really important to make that intentional,” Santana-Sayles said. “I’m not just going out and saying, ‘They have art I like. I’m going to bring them in.’ It’s a combination. Yes, they’re an amazing artist, and they have a really important story for this region.”

Santana-Sayles worked closely with art curator AJ Girard as Meow Wolf’s local art liaison. Girard has spoken of being inspired by everything from L.A.’s emphasis on social media to commercialism to graffiti art.

“Social media and social capital is so relevant in our city,” Girard said. “How do we make fun of it in an avant-garde, punk, radical way? How do we poke holes at it?”

Artists tapped to create full-scale rooms at Meow Wolf L.A. include Gabriela Ruiz, who crafted an adorably vibrant, multicolored insect that will serve as a periscope, and collective Everything Is Terrible, who described their space as featuring a “cartoony, root vegetable floating alien god.”

Also look for contributions from Compton’s Charles E. Dickson, a renowned self-taught sculpture artist, whose public works can be found throughout the region, including at Metro’s Mariposa Station and outside the California African American Museum, and Jen Stark, whose geometric kaleidoscope art flirts with the natural and the synthetic. Stark’s “Chromatic Cascade” is a staple of downtown’s Art’s District.

Lauren YS (a.k.a Squidlicker) is also tapped to have a room at Meow Wolf L.A., known for hyper-vivid colors and surrealist mythology. The artist currently has a piece in “Mythical Creatures: The Stories We Carry” at the USC Pacific Asia Museum.

Downtown L.A. street artist S.C. Mero will be contributing a sculpture piece to Meow Wolf L.A.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

Others with exhibiting rooms include Wayne White, album artist, surrealist and puppeteer, perhaps best known for his work as the main puppet-maker for the children’s show “Pee-wee’s Playhouse; Seth Bogart, known best as a local musician (Hunx and his Punx); upcycled fashion specialist Corinne Loperfido; cartooney psychedelic artist Killer Acid; and longtime Meow Wolf contributor Nick Toll.

Meow Wolf L.A. lists seven artists as contributing either video installations and games to the space, including artist/musician Vinyl Williams and musician/animator Hugo Shiboski with director/media artist Will Wharton. Animators Réka Bucsi, Agnus Oakes and Cadmiumcoffee, as well as digitial artist Blake Kathryn will also contribute. It was previously announced that local animation house Titmouse would be supplying media for Meow Wolf L.A.

Six artists are slated to paint murals for Meow Wolf L.A. Look for work from Bunnie Reiss, Ozzie Juarez, Greg Ito, Harlen Hue, Evelyn Tan and Devin Reynolds.

Finally, more than a dozen L.A. artists are listed as contributing either sculptures or dioramas to the exhibition. Those artists range from downtown L.A. street artist S.C. Mero to multidisciplinary artist Ruben Ulises to former Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival contributor Sofia Enriquez.

Rounding out the list will be David Altmejd, Sharif Farrag, Joe Holliday, Nemo Gould, Alake Shilling, Elrod, Brooke Weston, Shrine, Hana Ward, Roberto Benavidez, Estevan Oriol, Wizard of Barge, Mike Chattem and Karla Ekaterine Canseco.

Meow Wolf helped define the modern immersive space. Since 2016, when the once-scrappy Meow Wolf opened Santa Fe’s “House of Eternal Return” exhibition, the company has welcomed about 10 million visitors across its four venues in locales such as Las Vegas, Denver, Houston and the Dallas suburbs.

CAROLINE Quentin has revealed she may never buy another home after selling her sprawling six-bedroom farmhouse, art collection and jewellery.

The Men Behaving Badly actress, 66, has deliberately stripped back her lifestyle after admitting her huge Devon property and its grounds had become “a bit too much”.

She and husband Sam Farmer now rent a smaller home in Somerset, with Caroline saying they are perfectly happy to remain tenants.

Speaking to Saga, she said: “We’ve been in Somerset for just over a year, with a more manageable garden. We’re really happy. I don’t think we’ll buy again.”

Opening up about her former property, she added: “It had a two-acre vegetable garden, a two-acre orchard and a pool. The veg alone was exhausting.”

Caroline also revealed she auctioned off her art collection and jewellery after deciding possessions were no longer important to her.

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She said: “Possessions aren’t important to me any more. I got rid of a lot of things two years ago. I took them to auction and sold them.

“I had quite a big art collection and a lot of jewellery, and I sold it all.

“Now we live in a rented house and I don’t have much stuff. That was very deliberate.”

It marks a change of heart for the actress, who previously said she and Sam hoped to buy a smaller cottage and create a new garden.

Speaking to Gardens Illustrated in February 2024, she said: “My big beautiful garden in Devon came with a big house and it was all getting a bit too much for me.

“My husband Sam and I are renting a lovely cottage in Somerset and are looking for a cottage nearby where I can start a new garden and a new gardening adventure.”

Caroline is best known for playing Dorothy in Nineties sitcom Men Behaving Badly, as well as starring in Jonathan Creek and Blue Murder.

She married Sam in 2006 and the couple share two grown-up children, Emily Rose and William.

After oohing and aahing over “The Odyssey,” it’s time for the hot summer splash to make way for an intriguing fall lineup.

At the movies, Alexander Skarsgård plays a sexy wicker husband. Tom Cruise, a bizarro oil man. Jenna Ortega, a robot friend, and Kendall Roy, ahem, Jeremy Strong, is Mark Zuckerberg. Then we revisit classics of various stripes on the small screen, from a further-future “Blade Runner” to “A Different World” relaunch to “East of Eden” to “Pride and Prejudice.”

For new books, it’s an Emily fest. Emily St. John Mandel’s “Exit Party,” based in Los Angeles, is being called her best work since “Station Eleven.” And Emily Wilson, “The Odyssey” translator who launched 1,000 hot takes, lets us inside her process. As for arts, directors steal the spotlight: the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opens with 20 inaugural exhibitions and a collection of David Lynch’s L.A. photography fills a local gallery.

Bookmark this page and come back daily this week as we share even more of the best of fall. — Brittany Levine Beckman

It’s back-to-school time for the Broad.

The Broad museum is launching a new educational initiative, it announced on Saturday. “Our Block, Our Stories” will pair students with contemporary artists to explore how those artists have been inspired by their local neighborhoods, communities and personal experiences.

The program, open to grades 3 through 12, includes off-site activities and field trips to the museum. The Broad is paying for students’ transport to the museum.

The inaugural project will focus on South Los Angeles students and spotlight L.A. artist Lauren Halsey. Students will visit Halsey’s South L.A. sculpture garden, “sister dreamer, lauren halsey’s architectural ode to tha surge n splurge of south central los angeles,” to explore themes of neighborhood, memory and belonging. Halsey’s work, which debuted in March, was presented by Los Angeles Nomadic Division and curated by LAND co-founder Christine Y. Kim.

Students will then, on the same day, travel to the Broad for guided tours, discussions and writing prompts. They’ll be encouraged to connect their personal experiences to works in the museum’s collection while also considering how they might creatively express their own life stories, from their individual communities, through art. April De Leon, Broad interim school program manager, is overseeing the program.

“It’s so we can bring hundreds of young people [to the museum] so they can be inspired to be creative — and in a way that helps their community, gives back to their community, transforms their community and their city,” said Ed Patuto, Broad director for audience engagement. “We’ll look at how other artists, too — like Mark Bradford, John Ahearn and Rigoberto Torres — deal with their neighborhoods and opportunities in their neighborhoods for inspiration.”

The museum will provide educators with on-site worksheets and background materials on the artists, along with other pre-visit and post-visit resources in English and Spanish.

Field trips to the museum begin Sept. 18, though the Broad is still enrolling schools in the program. It’s giving priority to schools and youth organizations in and around South L.A. The Halsey program runs through Dec. 11.

Lauren Halsey’s South L.A. sculpture garden, “sister dreamer.”

(Allen Chen @_h_studio)

Patuto said that Halsey was the perfect artist to launch the program. Not only is her work represented in the Broad’s collection, but “she’s an artist who’s influenced by her community and, like a Mark Bradford, is actually building something in her community, for her community,” he said. “And that needs to be supported by arts institutions around the city.”

The idea behind the sculpture park, when Halsey first conceived it about 16 years ago, she said in an interview, was a space that represents and pays homage to the neighborhood, both aesthetically and conceptually.

“The heroes, the poetics, the material culture, the everyday,” she said. “But also, that it’s a sculpture park that serves — and for free — the neighborhood and L.A. at large.”

The Broad says it will continue to develop “learning modules” over the next several years.

The next one will launch in conjunction with the upcoming exhibition, “Has the myth been shattered,” opening in November. The show of Broad collection works spanning six decades, as curated by Jen Vanegas Rocha, addresses myths “and the way social media, mass media, can kind of mythologize things that happened to us,” Patuto said.

Free, youth-oriented cultural programming such as “Our Block, Our Stories” is a game-changer, Halsey said, adding that field trips she took to LACMA in middle school helped give her confidence to create and solidify her identity as an artist.

She hopes the Broad’s new educational initiative does the same for other young artists.

“It builds pride in one’s own neighborhood and validates experiences and expands on the possibility of what you can be as a young child and sparks your imagination,” she said. “I didn’t have that growing up in South Central, this access to art. So it’s really cool that the Broad came in and is partnering with me to bring this amazing, free programming to the neighborhood.”

TOKYO — Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, who splashed her signature polka dots on paintings, sculptures and museum installations around the world, has died, her company said Thursday. She was 97.

Kusama died Aug. 14 at a hospital in Tokyo, Yayoi Kusama Studio said in a statement.

Kusama, one of Japan’s most respected contemporary artists, was widely exhibited around the world, including at the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

Repetitive motifs in various shapes were her trademark, resembling netting, swirls or worms, but most often dots, dancing proudly on her canvases or as sparkling balls or dots of light in her installations in all their vibrant, psychedelic glory.

Yayoi Kusama’s “Infinity Mirrored Room — The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away,” 2013.

(EPW Studio / David Zwirner, New York)

In 2017, the Los Angeles Times wrote about the first U.S. museum survey of the Tokyo artist’s Infinity Mirror Rooms at the Broad. The rooms generated “Hamilton”-scale hype.

Kusama told The Times: “I believe that people are attracted by the infinite mysterious beauty that the artwork has. I am also attracted.”

Now two of Kusama’s pieces on permanent display at the Broad draw, on any given day, a line of visitors to see the immersive art pieces for mere moments. “Infinity Mirrored Room — The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away,” on the first floor, requires reservations to stand for one minute in a small mirrored room full of bouncing LED lights that make you feel like you’re floating in the Milky Way. “Longing for Eternity,” on the third floor, also draws lines but does not require a reservation to peek inside a chamber that gives off a purple disco dance floor vibe.

Both conjure a sense of awe, of boundless imagination. Millions have entered the “Souls” room, snapping photos and video that elicit floods of Instagram likes, since its opening in 2017.

Kusama, known for her fiery red wig, lived by choice in a Tokyo psychiatric hospital for decades. She had opened her own museum in Tokyo yet remained very private, granting limited interviews.

Kusama insisted she drew the way she saw the world — covered with spots, part of the hallucinations she said she had from childhood. She was one of the first Japanese women to go to New York to pursue her art, in 1957.

Although soft-spoken and shy in her mannerisms, she was always unabashedly bold in the assertion of her dotty vision, not only in sticking to the style for decades but also in making it accessible to the masses.

In her later years, as the times caught up with her art, she enjoyed fame. She signed on with fashion brands such as Louis Vuitton as well as other licensed products including teacups, T-shirts and key chains with her illustrations and replicas of her likeness that were used in show windows and other marketing.

In 2008, Christie’s auctioned her work for $5.8 million. In 2016, she won the most prestigious award Japan gives its artists, the Order of Culture.

Upon receiving the award, she told reporters she was more determined than ever to pursue her art, stressing that the sincerity and devotion she had demonstrated in her personal life were crucial parts of her artistic legacy.

“I feel there is little left in my life, but I am now still fighting to the death for my art,” she said. “I am giving all I have so that many people will continue to be interested in my art, even after I am dead.”

Kusama was called pop, avant-garde, feminist, just to name some of the categories thrown at her, most of which Kusama brushed off as not quite representative of her art.

She was born in a middle-class family but felt misunderstood, as her parents wanted her simply to get married. They wanted to buy her kimono, not paints and brushes. She knew she had to get away. She chose America.

When she arrived in New York, the fad was “action painting,” characterized by dribbles, swooshes and smears, not dots. She suffered years of poverty and obscurity. But she kept painting dots.

She put circles of paper on people’s bodies, and once a horse, in “happening” antiwar performances in the late 1960s, which got some people arrested for obscenity but helped get media attention for her art. While in New York, she befriended artists including Andy Warhol, Georgia O’Keefe and Joseph Cornell, who praised her innovative style.

Over the years, Kusama has made quirky but stunningly celebratory works such as “Macaroni Girl,” a female figure plastered with macaroni, which expresses the fear of food; “The Visionary Flowers,” giant sculptures of twisting tulips; and “Mirrored Corridor,” a room with mirrors that delivers an illusion of a field of phallic protrusions speckled with dots.

Kusama, who has also made films and published several novels, said she wasn’t sure where she got her ideas. She just picked up her brush and started drawing. The process was so mysterious sometimes she surprised herself, she told the Associated Press.

“I think, ‘Oh, I drew that? I was thinking that,’” she said.

She appeared happy to have her art be the focus of media attention and praise, reading one of her poems to a reporter or tackling her artworks with gusto for photos.

But she was also a charmingly disarming mix of vulnerability and defiance — at one moment declaring herself “an artistic revolutionary” and then, the next, mumbling: “I am so afraid, all the time, of everything.”

Times staff writer Deborah Vankin contributed to this report.

THE seaside town of Brighton isn’t exactly off the radar – but it could be become a new hub for tourists.

In terms of its artsy scene, the coastal city has been said to potentially ‘rival Margate‘ with a new attraction.

With buildings covered in beautiful murals, handmade trinkets being sold at markets and the fact that it’s home to many creatives, it’s surprising that Brighton doesn’t have an art gallery.

But that could be set to change as a development plan has revealed one could open on the seafront.

This isn’t too dissimilar to Margate in Kent which is home to the world-class Turner Contemporary.

The Black Rock area in Brighton next to Brighton Marina is set to be developed – while there are no official plans, it could become a gallery.

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According to Time Out, the local council are in talks with a major London art institution. 

That isn’t the only part of Brighton getting a new look – another part of the town’s redesign is on the seafront.

The council are looking to update the King’s Road paddling pool and play area.

The local council are currently looking for proposals that must have a “high-quality family play area and paddling pool that will remain free for residents and visitors to enjoy.”

The hope is that the existing pool, play area as well as surrounding facilities will be upgraded and modernised.

Speaking of pools, Brighton just a few years ago opened a seafront lido called Sea Lanes which sits right by the seafront on Madeira Drive.

The 50metre swimming pool has six lanes and is heated to 19C year-round.

On the day sessions are £11.90 per adult and £7.60 for concessions.

Thanks to several businesses being open on-site, Sea Lanes is a great spot to grab a drink and bite to eat.

One such place is a cafe called Fika, which boasts about serving “an epic brunch and damn good coffee“.

Think re-fuelling smoothies and enormous breakfast and brunch sandwiches.

There’s barbecue restaurant Wood x Coal, which “captures the essence of Brighton and Hove’s spirited soul” by serving “smoky flavours with modern culinary twists”.

Among its best loved options are its pizzas, which are served overlooking to beach.

Bison Beer meanwhile is a local craft beer company and has two bars, with 14 different draft beer options as well as spirits, wine and cocktails.

Another part of Brighton set to be upgraded is its historic arches along the King’s Road.

The seafront arches are home to independent shops and beachfront cafes – and are set to undergo a £22million investment.

Later this year, the nearby Grade II listed Madeira Terrace will reopen  following a £750,000 revamp

Jack Tucker descends from the rafters inside L.A.’s Montalbán Theatre like a kamikaze crash landing into his big moment. He’s flanked by fountain fireworks while a buff guitarist with a blond mullet and glittery spandex shorts wails on guitar to the tune of Lenny Kravitz’s cover of “American Woman.” With the garish gusto of a WWE wrestler, Tucker’s entrance as the ringleader of the show “Stamptown” electrifies the stage.

But the show truly starts when it falls apart with technical mishaps. Everything breaks, guns go off, an illusionist loses his clothes and jumps fully nude into the crowd — all within the first five minutes.

It’s a chaotic comedy world created by classically trained performers, including clowns, who’ve studied the art of physical humor and shredded the rule book. For more than 10 years the Stamptown troupe led by Tucker, the alter ego of comedian Zach Zucker, has created an insane asylum on stage — from Elysian Theater in Echo Park to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. The show’s comedy thrives on failure, interruption and never actually getting to the “script.” This week the madness leaps from the stage to the screen as Stamptown premieres its first Netflix special Tuesday.

“This is a lot of people’s first time being exposed to this,” Zucker said, cracking a mischievous smile while sitting in a red velvet chair inside the empty Elysian Theater where his crew has performed “Stamptown” for years. “I have seen a man light his penis on fire 45 times in my show. I forget that when it comes to comedy, most people are used to seeing a person with one microphone stand still and talk.”

Filmed over the course of three performances during Netflix Is a Joke Fest in May, the spliced together “Stamptown” special directed by Rachel Lee Goldenberg and edited by show co-creator Dylan Woodley captures the chaos of clowning mixed with a cerebral roast of traditional comedy and plenty of playful danger. The result isn’t a piece of art but rather “a pile of art,” Zucker said.

“Our strength is being a ‘you gotta see it to believe it’ type of performance, but if I really had to boil it down, it’s a modern day vaudevillian variety show that features any and all alternative performances … our ethos is, ‘against all odds, this show works,’ ” Zucker said.

Zach Zucker tosses props in the air inside the Elysian Theater.

(Carlin Stiehl / For The Times)

On a recent afternoon, the lanky, mustachioed Zucker, wearing a T-shirt, ballcap and small hoop earrings, bears little resemblance to his comic alter ego who sports a tattered suit with gag props stuffed in every pocket. In real life, the New York native is a former baseball and basketball star athlete who went down an extremely different path to become “a bisexual traveling clown.” After enrolling in what he assumed would be an easy acting class during his senior year of high school, Zucker became obsessed with improv and comedy. His teacher advised him to check out the renowned improv troupe Second City. So he flew to Chicago to see the show “Spoiler Alert: Everybody Dies” featuring Tim Robinson, Sam Richardson, Timothy Edward Mason and more. “It changed my life,” he said.

After taking up comedy classes and street performances on the East Coast, Zucker quickly transitioned to working in theater and eventually moved to L.A. at 18 to pursue comedy, interning at Upright Citizens Brigade. He scrubbed toilets in exchange for free improv classes. It was at UCB where he first crossed paths with celebrated clown teacher Philippe Gaulier, whose former students include Sacha Baron Cohen, Rachel Weisz and Geoffrey Rush. The wily, frizzy-haired Frenchman with red-framed spectacles taught Zucker everything he knows about clowning.

“Our strength is being a ‘you gotta see it to believe it’ type of performance, but if I really had to boil it down, it’s a modern day vaudevillian variety show that features any and all alternative performances … our ethos is, ‘against all odds, this show works,’” Zach Zucker said.

(Carlin Stiehl / For The Times)

“Philippe is by far my greatest influence,” Zucker said. “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about him or that I’m not actively implementing all the lessons he taught me as a man and as an artist.”

One of those lessons became the ethos of “Stamptown”: “If you’re having fun, maybe we like you. If you’re not having fun, for sure we hate you.”

Inspired by his wisdom, Zucker moved to France for two years to study with Gaulier. It was there that he met his future “Stamptown” collaborator Jonny Woolley, a Canadian performer who became the show’s sound tech, adding to the menagerie of aural mayhem through sound effects that punctuate the show’s every move.

“There’s a lot of different ways of approaching clowning, but ultimately, for us, it’s more of a philosophical approach to making art than it is like a rigorous set of rules or styles. It’s just being a lovable idiot,” Woolley said.

The name “Stamptown” is a tribute to the place where they learned their artform: the town of Estampes (which loosely translates to “Stamp”) in France where they studied with Gaulier, who died this year before the special was filmed.

Though he‘s known for his offbeat humor, Zucker’s brain is firing on a perpetual metronome. He’s snapping his fingers incessantly during our interview while describing the comedic timing of each show, which grooves like a jazz band on stage.

”Sometimes there’s a few different rhythms that I’m balancing at once. I can really zone in on what is the most fruitful at the moment while still keeping these other balls in the air,” he said. “Thankfully we’re not always pushing a message. Sometimes it is just about entertaining the crowd at all costs.”

Before “Stamptown,” Zucker was performing with Norwegian friend and fellow clown Viggo Venn as “Zach & Viggo,” a side act in the original variety show Zucker started with his friends in 2017 in Melbourne called “Midnight Madness” that eventually turned into “Stamptown.”

Working with Venn, Woolley and Woodley, Zucker devised the show to include a rotating cast of clowns, and comedic performers from around the world, including L.A. Staples in the local clown community include the slapstick of clown kingpin Chad Damiani playing a janitor, comedic actor Natalie Palamides as a comedy nepo fetus birthed by Riki Lindhome of “Garfunkel and Oates” and the riotously robotic gyrations of Courtney Pauroso as fembot temptress Vanessa 5000.

“‘Stamptown’ is extraordinary; it’s finely calculated nonsense,” said actor Neil Patrick Harris, a longtime friend and supporter of Zucker who appears on the Netflix special, in a statement to The Times. “Each performance is unique — stand-ups colliding with circus artists, and improvisers swapping talents and fluids, even the stagehands’ utter chaos and running gags, a ridiculous fever dream … it’s absurdly genius.”

The international performers who have become part of the “Stamptown” universe run the gamut from jugglers to steel drum players to acrobats to pianists. Trans comedian Jordan Gray is extremely unafraid to bare it all, including her soul, when behind the piano. The physicality of the performances goes beyond regional references and punchlines that might get some laughs in one country but not in others. Venn says it’s clear that at their core people tend to share the same sense of humor.

“It was fascinating to us to see that in Australia and France and England and the U.S., they really laugh at the same things if it’s like a deeply human kind of failure,” Venn said. “That’s the beauty of this show.”

Zach Zucker sits inside the Elysian Theater in Los Angeles.

(Carlin Stiehl / For The Times)

A tangled web of masterfully timed sound effects has unintentionally become the heartbeat of “Stamptown” . With Woolley now living full time in London, the duties for the U.S. shows were recently passed down to fellow performer Jeremy Elder, who did the sounds for the Netflix special tapings. He says the show is at its best when they throw out the game plan for the night, even while filming for Netflix.

“I think it’s as soon as we went off script, the audience could feel that. In the final product, we planned so much, but once you’re in the room with people it’s a very clown-like sentiment to just roll with what the audience is feeling,” Elder said.

While traditional stand-up is Netflix’s bread and butter for comedy programming, this form of comedy is mostly a target for mockery in “Stamptown” to show how limiting it is compared with the physical comedy of clowning. The one caveat, Zucker says — a clown is by far the most embarrassing brand of comedian you can be.

“It’s not cool, you don’t do this to be cool,” he said, laughing. “The whole point is that with all the love and fantasy and pleasure of your life, you have to step in a bucket of s— over and over and over and enjoy it. ‘Isn’t it awesome how I humiliate myself for you?’ And you embrace it.”

Celebrated artist Sliman Mansour, one of the founding figures of contemporary Palestinian art, has died at the age of 79 after a long illness, his family announced on Monday.

Born in Birzeit, near Ramallah, in 1947, Mansour rose to prominence in the 1970s as part of a generation of Palestinian artists, writers and poets seeking to rebuild a threatened identity through symbols rooted in land and memory. Over more than five decades, his paintings came to embody the story of Palestine: the farmer clinging to his soil, the stone house on a hill, the embroidered thobe and the smile of a young girl carrying the hope of return.

Mansour studied art in Beirut and Washington and went on to exhibit extensively, both in solo shows and group exhibitions across the Arab world and internationally. His works are held in museums and private collections worldwide, and he received numerous awards in recognition of his contribution to Arab and Palestinian culture.

His visual language drew deeply from the region’s ancient civilisations – Canaanite, Pharaonic and Assyrian – as well as Islamic and Arab art, particularly calligraphy and geometric motifs. At the same time, his upbringing in Birzeit anchored his work in the everyday life of Palestinian villages: the landscape, peasants, traditional homes and clothing. Mansour also absorbed influences from global art that carried messages of freedom and resistance, blending local forms with a universal appeal.

During the first Intifada, he helped found the New Vision group with fellow artists, turning to mud, straw, wood, leather, henna and natural dyes after Palestinian artists boycotted Israeli-made supplies. This shift, he later said, forged a vital link between post-Nakba art and the work of younger generations.

For many Palestinians, Mansour’s canvases were more than images; they were a visual archive of the cause itself. His brush, critics and admirers agree, carried the homeland.

Al Jazeera looks at some of his famous paintings.

The group exhibition “To Share a Stomach” is a bit like the children’s game Telephone, in which a phrase, whispered from person to person, inevitably comes out a bit garbled. Urgently conceived by curator Aram Moshayedi in March, on the heels of the latest U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, it features works envisioned by 25 Iranian artists that were fabricated with varying degrees of collaboration by 24 counterparts here in the U.S.

Hampered by significant internet blackouts, displacements and the loss of studios and artwork in Iran, as well as an extremely compressed timeline (just five months), the results are understandably rangy and uneven. Yet the show, now on view at the Brick through Sept. 19, is an achingly beautiful meditation on the difficulty of communication and the shared goodwill that intermittently, imperfectly, surmounts it.

Sina Ghadaksaz and John Ziqiang Wu, “What the Clouds Remember and the Mountains Forget,” 2026; Carmen Argote, “Aram’s sneakers: Mount Eynali,” August 6, 8–1030p.m., 2026; Mohammadreza Jahanshir, “Glory / 50904020,” 2026; Maryam Lashkari, Hodjat Salimi, and Oscar Tuazon, “Can You S…?,” 2026; Kelly Akashi and Mimi Amini with David Gutierrez, Matt Rademacher and Kazuki Takizawa, “The Anatomy of a Postponed Intent: The Glass Blade,” 2026; Fatemeh Kazemi and Olivia Mole, “The Conference of the Birds,” 2026, can be seen in the exhibition “To Share a Stomach,” at the Brick in Los Angeles.

(Ruben Diaz 2026)

None of the works address the recent bombardments directly, although the precarious context of ongoing threat, instability and struggle can be felt in almost all of them. Ducking into Maryam Lashkari, Hodjat Salimi and Oscar Tuazon’s interactive sculpture — an enormous cardboard tube lying on its side — feels like entering a culvert or a bomb shelter. Inside, one lies on a crude bed of felt blankets and dons a set of headphones; the sounds of jet planes, a party, conversations and emergency sirens are interspersed with an imperious voice reading a guided meditation on how to be present in one’s body during a bombing. The harsh realities of war are woven into the textures of everyday life, warping and fraying into something absurd. Viewers may scan a QR code for their own copy of the audio track, which deteriorates in sound quality with every download.

Slow disintegration also appears in a triptych of videos by Ismail Ghanbari (facilitated by Tala Madani but not credited as a collaboration). In the largest central one, we see Ghanbari holding two nearly destroyed boxing gloves as he explains how he trained so intensely for a performance in which he boxed for five hours that the gloves began to fall apart. Their tattered remnants, barely held together with patches and stitching, are poignant metaphors for a battered will that keeps fighting even as protections wear thin.

Vulnerability and violence also co-exist in Mimi Amini and Kelly Akashi’s collaboration: a sword made of clear glass. Hanging from the rafters, the tip of its blade points down ominously over viewers’ heads, emphasizing both the danger of the weapon and its fragility. If it fell, would it pierce one’s skull or shatter into bits? It exists suspended between latent violence and the risk of its own annihilation.

Fatemeh Kazemi and Olivia Mole, “The Conference of the Birds,” 2026; Fatemeh Kazemi, “What the Birds Did Not Tell Upon Their Return,” 2026, in the exhibit, “To Share a Stomach,” at the Brick in Los Angeles.

(Ruben Diaz 2026)

These impressions are responses to the works as they exist in the gallery, but the show has another layer, revealed in an accompanying booklet that reproduces the initial emails or texts from the Iranian artists to the curator. Interwoven with stories of life during wartime are proposals or instructions, allowing viewers to assess for themselves how much the works in the gallery reflect the artists’ original ideas. For example, the tube-bunker was initially envisioned as a “completely dark space” twinkling with a variety of malfunctioning countdown clocks. Ghanbari’s video appears in lieu of the gloves themselves, and Amini’s original digital rendering of the glass sword is much more detailed and intricate than the comparatively “low-res” version on view.

If we think of an artwork as an intentional, carefully wrought creation that comes directly from an artist, what are we to make of these incomplete, unfaithful interpretations? I was reminded of the reality TV show “Nailed It!,” in which amateur bakers fail spectacularly to reproduce complex cakes. I cackle at the distance between perfection and utter collapse, but I also feel a pang of tenderness: I am moved by their effort.

Artists, of course, are no strangers to things not going to plan. While the exhibit is enabled by the entwined ubiquity of the English language and the internet, the artists know these technologies aren’t transparent. Most of the Iranian artists left their instructions generously open-ended, inviting the interpretations and transmutations of their U.S. peers. In some cases, it seems the partners did not continue the conversation; whether due to disagreement, bombardment or government-imposed internet blackouts (described to chilling effect in an essay by Negar Karimkhani) is unclear. The U.S. artists were constrained by a very compressed timeline (and presumably budget and space) to fabricate and display the works. Even without these limitations, to hand over one’s vision to someone else, and conversely, to shoulder the responsibility for realizing it are both touching acts of trust.

Ali Ansari and Renée Petropoulos, “Between Entries”, 2026; Salman Khoshroo and Daid Roy, “Defensive Wall,” 2026; Ismail Ghanbari, “Proxy (Neyabati) 1,” “Proxy (Neyabati) 2,” “Proxy (Neyabati) 3,” 2026, on view as part of the exhibition, “To Share a Stomach,” at the Brick in Los Angeles.

(Ruben Diaz 2026)

Viewers must exert themselves a little too. Understanding who is responsible for what work and to what degree requires consulting a floor plan, a checklist and the booklet: an awkward juggling act that would have been eased by some wall labels. Still, as I shuffled papers, I became part of the buffering, incomplete chain of communication. As Amini wrote of the glass blade, “the perfection of this form is preserved only with the mental space shared between the conceptualizing artist and the interpreting artist.” I venture to add the viewer to that space, thinking of Yoko Ono’s instruction artworks (across town at the Broad) which short-circuit any physical acts of making to take shape only in our minds.

This kind of intimacy — thinking, envisioning, constructing together — is rare when it comes to American intersections with Iran. I was previously unfamiliar with the Iranian artists in the show, and I’m sure I missed many cultural and linguistic references in their works. My focus on pieces evoking violence predictably reflects my limited knowledge of Iran as other than a locus of U.S. antagonism (the result of a different information blackout).

Yet, “To Share a Stomach” lays down — gingerly, gently — an alternate connective thread, spun from a mutual recognition of fallibility. In his introductory essay, curator Moshayedi reveals that the show’s title is his mistranslation of the Farsi word for “empathy.” (The correct translation is “to share a heart.”) He goes on to confess that after many years’ study, he finally gave up on learning the language. We will never understand each other perfectly; I am still moved by the effort.

The Emmys’ writing and directing categories sometimes offer a window into the eventual winners, as when “The Studio” swept through the ceremony last year. Other times, voters decide to go their own way. “Slow Horses” has never won the drama series Emmy, but it has won awards for writing and directing the past two years. Noodles for everyone!

The episode submissions this year are a little baffling, often not reflecting the series’ best work. But what do I know? Maybe those “Pitt” submissions primed the waterworks. Perhaps it’s politics.

What I do know are my own personal preferences. So here are my rankings of the writing and directing nominees for drama, comedy and limited series, ordered from least to best.

Comedy series directing

6. “The Ms. Pat Show,” “Give It Arrest”
Directed by Mary Lou Belli

If you haven’t watched Patricia “Ms. Pat” Williams’ unfiltered show, it’s been on BET+ for five seasons and this is Belli’s third nomination for directing. The fan base is nothing if not loyal.

5. “The Chair Company,” “Life Goes By Too F— Fast, It Really Does”
Directed by Andrew DeYoung

Cathartic cringe comedy for people who thought “Severance” was too lighthearted.

4. “Abbott Elementary,” “Ballgame”
Directed by Randall Einhorn

No small feat to shoot during a live baseball game, and the episode is so good (Kyle Schwarber blasts four home runs!) that, even as a Dodgers fan, I can’t say boo about the Philly-ness of it.

3. “Widow’s Bay,” “Welcome to Widow’s Bay!”
Directed by Hiro Murai

As the episode title suggests, it’s the table-setter. There were better episodes, but the last three aired past the eligibility deadline, so this will do.

2. “The Bear,” “Bears”
Directed by Christopher Storer

Tiff and Frank’s wedding, proof that Season 4 of “The Bear” had more than its share of high points. Another showcase for Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s acting and contains a powerful scene between Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and Uncle Lee (Bob Odenkirk) that sets the stage for the show’s final season.

1. “Hacks,” “Hacks (Finale)”
Directed by Lucia Aniello

Who doesn’t like a fairy-tale ending?

Drama series directing

6. “The Gilded Age,” “My Mind Is Made Up”
Directed by Salli Richardson–Whitfield

Soapy, opulently costumed piffle with a beating heart.

5. “Paradise,” “Exodus”
Directed by Hanelle M. Culpepper

In which the show either jumps the shark or executes an intriguing reset.

4. “The Pitt,” “12 P.M.”
Directed by Noah Wyle

RIP Louie.

3. “Task,” “Out Beyond Ideas of Wrongdoing and Rightdoing, There Is a River”
Directed by Salli Richardson–Whitfield

Shootouts don’t come more chaotic — or devastating — than the 20-minute melee that opens this hour.

2. “Slow Horses,” “Scars”
Directed by Saul Metzstein

Could repeat the Emmy in this category just for that last shot of Lamb’s feet.

1. “Pluribus,” “We Is Us”
Directed by Vince Gilligan

The strange, unsettling series premiere was the best hour of television this year.

Limited series directing

4. “Black Rabbit,” “The Black Rabbits”
Directed by Jason Bateman

Do you even remember what happened in this series?

3. “Beef,” “It Will Stay This Way and You Will Obey”
Directed by Jake Schreier

Is it OK to become our parents if it’s the only way to pay the mortgage?

2. “Beef,” “Oh, the Comfort, the Inexpressible Comfort”
Directed by Lee Sung Jin

Basically “The Pitt,” but with an ethical dilemma involving Gatorade.

1. “DTF St. Louis”
Directed by Steven Conrad

Immaculately composed wide shots and an imaginative use of shallow depth of field are used to highlight the suburban weirdness hiding in plain sight.

Comedy series writing

6. “Jury Duty Presents Company Retreat,” “Mergers and Acquisitions”
Written by Anthony King

In which Anthony (Norman, not King, the episode’s writer) becomes the hero of the television season.

5. “The Chair Company,” “Life Goes By Too F— Fast, It Really Does”
Written by Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin

Season premiere goes straight into goblin mode.

4. “Abbott Elementary,” “Team Building”
Written by Quinta Brunson

The only instance where the words “team building” don’t make me shudder.

3. “Hacks,” “Hacks (Finale)”
Written by Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky

Too melodramatic with the whole Deborah death scare? Have you been watching “Hacks” for the last five seasons?

2. “Widow’s Bay,” “Welcome to Widow’s Bay!”
Written by Katie Dippold

A fine introduction to the cursed New England island as well as the show’s juxtaposition of comedy and horror.

1. “The Comeback,” “Valerie Does It All”
Written by Michael Patrick King and Lisa Kudrow

Can we laugh about AI being the death of us? For one brilliant episode, yes!

Drama series writing

6. “The Diplomat,” “Amagansett”
Written by Peter Ackerman and Debora Cahn

Come for the “West Wing” vibes, stay for the blindside reveal.

5. “The Pitt,” 12 P.M.”
Written by Valerie Chu

You can’t fault a show that hauls in 25 nominations, including two for writing. These are solid episodes, but they pale in comparison with the last four of the season, which offered an intense, emotionally charged run that culminated hours of careful, patient storytelling.

4. “Task,” “A Still Small Voice”
Written by Brad Ingelsby

Forgiveness brings relief.

3. “The Pitt,” “1 P.M.”
Written by Kirsten Pierre-Geyfman and R. Scott Gemmill

See earlier comment about “12 P.M.”

2. “Slow Horses,” “Scars”
Written by Will Smith

The best moment didn’t come from the book.

1. “Pluribus,” “We Is Us”
Written by Vince Gilligan

“Hello, Carol.”

Limited series writing

5. “All Her Fault,” “Episode 8”
Written by Megan Gallagher

If you like deaths in a series finale, this is the show for you!

4. “The Beast in Me,” “Sick Puppy”
Story by Gabe Rotter; teleplay by Gabe Rotter and Daniel Pearle

I was worried for the schnoodle more than any of the characters in the series.

3. “Beef,” “All the Things We’re Never Going to Have”
Written by Lee Sung Jin

Like healthcare, a home, peace of mind, bees that live when you try to save them …

2. “Death by Lightning,”
Written by Mike Makowsky

We could really use a James Garfield right about now.

1. “DTF St. Louis,”
Written by Steven Conrad

“No one’s normal. It just looks that way from across the street.”

Sitting in the heart of the city and surrounded by museums and bars, the Hard Rock Hotel Madrid manages to be entertaining enough on its own

Music is the lifeblood of the soul, I firmly believe everyone needs to listen to music to stay alive. But there’s people who love music (human beings, birds) and there’s people who love music (Radiohead fans). I always thought the Hard Rock Hotel catered exclusively to the latter group, until I made a trip to their Madrid location in July.

In fact, the Hard Rock Hotel is a haven for anyone who has been to a live gig all the way up to those people who camp outside Wembley Stadium, just so they can feel what it’s like to be squished against a barrier for hours with the force of a thousand fans.

Located in Madrid’s Atocha neighbourhood and a few minutes walk from the station that shares its name, it’s also just a 20 minute drive from the airport. This makes it an absolute sweet spot for exploring the city – that’s as soon as you’re done with the inside.

Room

Madrid is hot, but Madrid in July may as well be located on the surface of an exploding star. However, the air conditioning in this hotel is next level – and it’s the first thing I noticed as I walked in to their lobby. That was seconds before my eyes clocked the museum of artefacts in the lobby.

A gorgeous Menina sculpture statue covered in song lyrics from Spanish popstar Rosalia sits on one side of the entrance, with a giant bull greeting on the other. The lobby is a cornucopia of musical artefacts alongside the art, with guitars and pics from famous rockstars and little explainers for those less in the know.

It’s difficult to have so much stuff everywhere and not feel too kitsch, but while it certainly straddles that line, it feels more exciting than it does over-the-top. A wonderful touch I enjoyed was that all the staff have their favourite artist on their name tags. While checking in, I had a lovely chat with a guy about the new Madonna album – it was Pride season, after all, and Confessions II is this summer’s gay album.

One thing that struck me was how friendly and helpful all the staff were here. This is my favourite thing about the hotel: I never felt like a burden, even as I asked questions about how to get somewhere or if I needed toothpaste brought up to the room.

I stayed in a double-bed room overlooking the lobby. The beds are dreamy – I was clocking in 30,000+ Garmin steps (if you know, you know) and resting my head on a cloud and my body on another, bigger cloud, really helped me keep the party going. Despite music pumping from individual rooms and a Pride party on the Saturday afternoon, I could at most feel a murmur and a vibration.

The rooms aren’t huge, which while not unfamiliar to a city centre hotel, may be an issue for those bringing suitcases of clothes. I brought a backpack and fairly easily expanded into the clothes storage space.

However, this was mitigated by some lovely touches – the soundbar makes getting ready an absolute delight and if you don’t have any playlists, they provide you with one. The rain shower was, also, desperately needed after walking about in 40 degree heat. The cherry on top is the ring light mirror too – you best believe I did a photoshoot.

Amenities

The hotel boasts a restaurant and bar in the lobby area, as well as a rooftop bar and a pool with access to a bar and food. I dined at the Sessions restaurant on one Friday night.

Its definite plus point is a huge menu, meaning even the most fussy eaters will have something to eat, from patatas bravas to croquettes to onion rings and ribs. I would say this is fairly standard fare – if you’ve eaten in a Hard Rock Cafe, you’ve eaten the food here. But good for those in a pinch.

However, I cannot recommend enough going to the rooftop bar at sunset. The city sets alight with golden hour glow – sipping on a gorgeous cocktail as Madrid reveals its beauty to me is something I will never forget.

The pool, meanwhile, is good for jumping in to cool down, but is not the biggest I’ve ever seen. The real stars of the pool area are the bookable cabanas, making it ideal for decompressing, reading a book and hoping the hangover doesn’t kill you off.

Location

The location is an absolute highlight, with the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, the Museo Nacional del Prado and the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza all within walking distance.

It’s also on the edge of the huge El Retiro Park, with so much inside (including a botanical garden) that it would take several days to explore. On the edges of this I found a smaller, free version of the Reina Sofia too, proving art is foundational to a Madrid experience.

Sol station is a 20 minute walk from the hotel – I arrived during Pride, so while I didn’t get to experience the area’s restaurants, this was the epicentre of the entertainment, with live singers on a huge stage and hundreds of people dancing.

And no trip to Spain is complete without some churros – a 29 minute walk from the hotel is the famous Chocolatería San Ginés, which has existed since 1894. Here you can get affordable churros in chocolate so good I’m surprised Arthur Slugworth didn’t go in to steal the recipe. It’s so good in fact Madrid’s police officers are often spotted in there.

Is it worth the trip?

It’s hard not to recommend the Hard Rock Hotel. Not only is the location one of the best in the city, the hotel is just so exciting to stay in. Couple that with comfy beds you can sink into, the minor issues were outweighed by the force of its riff. If you like fun, you’ll like the Hard Rock Hotel.

I’m confident that I’ll make my way through The Times’ best breakfast burrito list and devour another couple dozen worthy candidates before I’ll ever have the chance to ride on that chronically delayed LAX people mover.

“Ninety-nine percent done”? Sounds like the answer my kids would give me the night before a big homework assignment was due.

Maybe our next breakfast burrito list can be “Best breakfast burritos near John Wayne Airport.” Or Hollywood Burbank. Or Long Beach. The possibilities are endless. No doubt we have got time until that “one percent” gets checked off.

I’m Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times, host of the Envelope newsletter, and the guy pondering a “DTF Los Angeles” where the characters inch along the LAX horseshoe, kindling all manner of sinister thoughts.

Cover story: ‘DTF St. Louis’

(Erik Carter / For The Times)

Are TV viewers a little more judgmental when it comes to complicated women?

Linda Cardellini would always know where someone was on their “DTF St. Louis” viewing journey based on their vibe when they approached her.

“If they were halfway through the show, they usually weren’t warming up to Carol and you could feel that energy,” Cardellini says, talking with me for a recent Envelope cover story on the limited series. “But if they were through with the show, that energy changed. Sometimes you could tell they felt bad that they didn’t like her in the first place.”

Carol, as you know if you’ve watched “DTF,” the season’s best limited series, is an overworked suburban mother forced to umpire Little League games because her job at Purina doesn’t pay enough to cover the bills. She’s married to gentle giant Floyd (David Harbour), an ASL interpreter and a sensitive stepfather to her son. But it’s a sexless marriage, so she turns to local weatherman Clark (Jason Bateman), who possesses a vitality long absent in her husband.

“DTF St. Louis” is ostensibly a murder mystery. Floyd dies in the first episode. Writer-director Steven Conrad employs a fair bit of misdirection, pointing our suspicions first to Clark and then to Carol. Since money is tight and Floyd had an insurance policy, Carol is a logical enough person of interest. We learn that she has a criminal record. And she was cheating.

“When I was reading the episodes, I thought, ‘Oh, OK. It’s going to be Carol, even though there’s so many clues telling you that it’s not her,” Cardellini says. “But we’re conditioned to think that. Like, ‘She had to be after the money,’ even though she never accepts any gifts as she’s struggling financially. Everyone just believed the worst in her.”

Granted, Carol could be a little brusque with service workers, and her passive-aggressive approach to police questioning (“Can you speak up?”) was a master class in control and manipulation that I plan to use if I’m ever interrogated for some crime I’m sure I did not do. (Unless it’s somehow related to picking someone up at LAX. Then all bets are off.)

Reviews for “DTF” too often would note how it’s a poignant look at male loneliness in the suburbs when, in fact, Carol is the most isolated character on the show.

“Carol is immensely lonely, but she’s so burdened by the heavy demand of keeping this household afloat that she doesn’t have the luxury to notice that she doesn’t have a friend,” says Conrad. “The job of bailing water is hers alone.”

In that respect, Carol brings to mind Skyler White on “Breaking Bad” and Carmela Soprano from “The Sopranos,” forlorn women dealing with the man-child they married and getting flak from viewers for being a killjoy.

By the end of “DTF,” we find we should have been on Carol’s side all along.

“It’s a beautiful magic trick,” says co-star Bateman.

Just the latest feat of illusion from the talented Cardellini, one that could result in her first Emmy win next month.

NEW YORK — It was 2023 when Laufey, the Icelandic singer-songwriter known for her neoclassical jazz-pop, decided to create a global fan event. Her second album, “Bewitched,” was soon to be released and she wanted to do something big to celebrate it. But more than that, she says, she “wanted to find a way to get my fans out of their homes, and to really follow an itinerary of my perfect idea of a day and have the music from ‘Bewitched’ follow it.”

And thus, “A Very Laufey Day” was born. Each year, the Grammy-winning singer curates itineraries for different locations across the globe for her listeners to follow. It’s “anywhere I have been and loved,” she says. It allows them to live what she refers to as “a perfect day,” but also to connect with their community offline and in person. And as she approaches its fourth edition, it has only grown larger.

“It became much bigger than I anticipated, really,” she says. She sought to inspire her audience to find “third spaces,” and explore some of her favorite locales: museums, bookstores, cafes, concerts and the like, and foster community in the process. And each year, it has only grown bigger, with fans dressing up in their favorite Laufey-themed vintage fashions to celebrate the unofficial holiday.

And Aug. 23 will mark the fourth annual “A Very Laufey Day.”

“It is a fun puzzle every year,” she says.

‘A Very Laufey Day’ 2026

This year, “A Very Laufey Day” will include experiences in 75 cities across 25 countries, centering on the theme of “A Celebration of the Arts.”

“Wherever in the world you’re spending your day, I hope you feel inspired and invigorated,” Laufey wrote in a note on her “A Very Laufey Day” website.

Fans can expect performances spanning symphony orchestras, ballet, jazz, opera and theater as well as events with libraries, bookstores, coffee shops, yogurt/ice cream shops and more. Her concert film, “A Night at the Symphony: Hollywood Bowl,” will be screened at select theaters. And she’s partnered with many museums around the world, including New York City’s Guggenheim, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, London’s Tate Modern and National Gallery, Chile’s Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Seoul’s Daelim Museum and more. At some participating businesses, fans will be able to acquire limited-edition merchandise and Laufey-themed specialty drinks.

LACMA is offering a discount code, AVLD, for museum visitors on Aug. 23. As of Aug. 16, the code took $2 off tickets. “Come spend the day enjoying something beautiful,” LACMA wrote on Instagram.

“This year it was really about focusing on the arts and culture and finding ways to bring this barrier of entry down between my audience — which is mostly Gen Z and Gen A — and these kind of so-called high cultural experiences,” she says. “Whether it’s going to see an orchestra show … museums or galleries, we really want to find ways to connect with those institutions.”

Some of these spaces can be intimidating for younger fans, and Laufey says this year was all about making these rooms, some of her favorites, inviting to her audience.

“It doesn’t have to be this scary thing. And so, I’ve kind of made it my life’s mission to make spaces like that fun and accessible,” she says.

Sherman writes for the Associated Press.

The school year is beginning in the Los Angeles area, with LAUSD back this week and Pasadena Unified School District starting Monday. My 10-year-old daughter just got her new backpack and shoes and is aflutter about her return for her final year of elementary school. But she’s sad about one thing in particular: Last year her school had to choose to keep PE or art. It voted for art. She loved both, and didn’t think the choice was fair. I asked her to write about it and said I’d share her thoughts with readers.

For context, late last school year PUSD laid off more than 150 full-time-equivalent certificated positions. According to United Teachers of Pasadena President Jonathan Gardner, that number included almost 25 art, music, dance, orchestra and choir teachers. It also included librarians, coordinators for special education and counselors, and, of course, plenty of irreplaceable regular teachers. It’s a bitter pill for educators and parents to swallow, especially when the country is spending billions on an ill-advised war in Iran that was never approved by Congress and many people in the city are struggling to afford groceries and healthcare.

My daughter, Henri Boo Biller, gets into that a bit in her essay:

“Because the district couldn’t pay for certain activities and classes anymore, subjects like art, music and PE have ended. Some people have protested about these layoffs and budget cuts, but the children are especially sad.

Kids love and adore some of these teachers that have been teaching them how to draw or play a sport or musical instrument. Taking away these activities is ending certain opportunities for kids. For example, kids love to run and play just as much as they love to draw and sculpt. Taking away one of the two wouldn’t mean that the kid doesn’t still want to do it!

One of the subjects they’ve been taking away in some schools is music. This is a problem because some kids can’t afford instruments or lessons from an expensive instructor. That’s why music is so important, to let kids learn an instrument without having to pay big bucks for it. Taking away that is taking away a giant opportunity. The instruments the kids are learning, such as trumpet, trombone, flute, guitar, saxophone, cello and violin are expensive instruments that are hard to find, or at least hard to find in good condition.”

I’ll interject here. This is true. My family benefits from a school-loaned saxophone for my daughter.

In her essay, my kiddo interviewed her neighbor and best friend who lives across the street, asking her what she thought should be done about these budget cuts. Her answer broke my heart.

Q. What do you think we can do about these changes?
A. Have more fundraising events throughout the year. As well as school sales, bake sales and lemonade stands.

My daughter continues, “As [my friend] mentioned, we could hold more school sales like bake sales and lemonade stands. But we could also think about why this is happening. The money that is usually going to schools across the country is instead being used by the government to buy more weapons for the war in Iran [editor’s note: we have discussed that one thing being funded doesn’t necessarily take away from another, and that it is really a matter of what we prioritize as a society] … and because of this PUSD and other districts are having to take away certain programs. Some of these programs are even their main selling point! Programs like art, music and PE are being shut down, ending certain opportunities for children. We can try to get some of that money back, like the interview stated, or protest to show the world we mean business. Thank you for your time. Next week I will come back with an equally intriguing topic. Have a nice rest of your week! I’m Henri B. Biller, signing out.”

As her mother, I vote for protest! We do mean business, right?

I’m arts editor Jessica Gelt sending my love to the teachers of the city. This is your arts and culture news for the week.

The week ahead: A curated calendar

FRIDAY

Battleship Potemkin
Sergei Eisenstein’s epic 1925 silent film screens with the world premiere of a live music score for string quartet and vocal quintet composed and conducted by George Sarah. Sarah also performs on synths/electronics, joined by soprano Jenna Hansen, mezzo soprano Anna Caplan, tenors George Sterne and Sean McDermott, Kaija Hansen on violin/viola, Katie Kim on violin and cellists Carolyn Regula and Paul Hyun.
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. sierramadreplayhouse.org

SUNDAY

Jas Ahluwalia and Kamaljeet Ahluwalia of Absolute Focus.

(Sierra Madre Playhouse; courtesy of the artist)

Absolute Focus + Chris Votek
The husband-and-wife duo of Santoor virtuoso Kamaljeet Ahluwalia and tabla master Jas Ahluwalia are joined by cellist Votek for an afternoon of traditional Hindustani raga.
4 p.m. Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. sierramadreplayhouse.org

Pacific Chorale’s Choral Festival
The annual event brings hundreds of community members together with the voices of the Chorale for Maurice Duruflé’s “Requiem.” Robert Istad conducts the Pacific Chorale’s Festival Chorus.
5 p.m. Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. pacificchorale.org

TUESDAY

Gershwin, Bernstein & More
Gianandrea Noseda and the National Symphony Orchestra make their Bowl debut with music from “West Side Story,” “An American in Paris” and Dvořák’s “From the New World.”
8 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N Highland Ave., Hollywood. hollywoodbowl.com

WEDNESDAY

An Enemy of the People
Director Bart DeLorenzo has reimagined Henrik Ibsen’s classic play to highlight its contemporary resonance in a society in decline. The cast includes Lauren Campedelli, DeJuan Christopher, Dennis Dun, Clay Hollander, Jason McBeth, Cara Mitsuko and Jay Paulson.
Previews, 8 p.m. Wednesday-Aug. 21; opening night, 8 p.m. Aug. 22; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and Wed. Sept. 16; 3 p.m. Sundays through Sept. 27. Odyssey Ensemble Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd. odysseytheatre.com

Herbie Hancock performs at the 2026 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

(Amy Harris / Invision / AP)

Herbie Hancock Celebrates Miles Davis
The Grammy-winning keyboardist has recruited a stellar lineup including two of Miles Davis’ former bassists — Ron Carter and Marcus Miller — trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard, former Davis saxophonist Kenny Garrett, bassist Christian McBride and conductor-arranger Vince Mendoza, to honor Davis through his music.
8 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com

THURSDAY

Presented in VistaVision
A tribute to the cinematography technique created by Paramount Pictures in 1954. Its popularity waned in the 1960s but contemporary filmmakers such as Brady Corbet, Yorgos Lanthimos and Paul Thomas Anderson have embraced the format. The series begins with John Ford’s “The Searchers” (1956) in 70mm on Thursday, and includes “North by Northwest” (1959), also in 70mm, and “One Battle After Another” (2025), the first film shot in VistaVision to win the Academy Award for best picture.
7:30 p.m. Thursday; the series continues through Aug. 31. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org

Gustavo Dudamel conducts his final concert in Disney Hall as L.A. Phil music director on June 7.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Celebrating Gustavo at the Bowl
As Gustavo Dudamel departs L.A. for New York, he goes out with a bang of four nights with four different programs: Beethoven Ninth with the L.A. Phil and YOLA on Thursday; Gustavo’s Fiesta, with Los Tigres del Norte, singer-songwriter Lila Downs, Mariachi Reyna de Los Ángeles, singer Sílvia Pérez Cruz, La Sonora Dinamita and Los Panchos, joining with the L.A. Phil for a night of Latin music on Aug. 21; Foo Fighters with the L.A. Phil and YOLA on Aug. 22; and last, but not least, “A Concert for Venezuela: A Benefit to Support Earthquake Relief” on Aug. 23.
8 p.m. Thursday-Aug. 22; 7 p.m. Aug. 23. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com

— Kevin Crust

Retrospective

L.A. Times arts coverage from the past …

Lynda Benglis. “MI,” 1984. Glass, sandcast, powdered; ceramic oxides, metal inclusions 13 1/2 x 17 x 16 in. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser.

(Museum Associates / LACMA; Lynda Benglis / VAGA, New York)

Shattering expectations

Aug. 6, 2006

It was 1986 and Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser were 10 years into their passion for collecting glass art. Their home was lined with the kinds of works they loved.

That was when Stephanie Barron, a curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, called to suggest that they look at an unusual piece at Margo Leavin Gallery in West Hollywood. Titled “MI,” it was a thick twist of sand-cast glass with a roughened texture reminiscent of glass unearthed from ancient sites. Even more unusual, the artist was Lynda Benglis, better known for avant-garde sculpture and performance and video work.

It was as if glass, as an artistic medium, had reached a critical juncture. “A whole group of artists who were not part of the glass movement but who worked in glass suddenly appeared,” Greenberg says.

He and Steinhauser viewed “MI” with puzzlement at first, then respect and finally appreciation. “This was part of our learning experience,” he said. “It expanded our horizons.” The couple helped LACMA purchase the piece. READ MORE

— Scarlett Cheng

Culture news and the SoCal scene

Anthony Hopkins at Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles on Aug. 1.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Anthony Hopkins’ first love was music, and, at 88, he’s returned to it. Later this month, the two-time Academy Award-winning actor will release his debut album, “Life Is a Dream,” on Decca Classics, featuring London’s Philharmonia Orchestra and conducted by Gustavo Dudamel.

Dudamel will play his final show at the Hollywood Bowl later this month as the music and artistic director of the L.A. Phil, and although the city has had years to get used to the idea of losing him, it still stings. In a tender, thoughtful column filled with insider information, Times classical music critic Mark Swed looks back at Dudamel’s arrival in L.A. more than 20 years ago to track how the Venezuelan wunderkind went from “rising star to star to savior.”

Swed also broke the news that German composer and conductor Matthias Pintscher will be Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s new music director, replacing Jaime Martín beginning in the 2027-28 season. “Pintscher, who is 55, says he is not ready to make any grand statements about LACO other than being eager to explore West Coast music and that he loves combining old with everything else,” Swed wrote.

Michael Shaeffer as King Aerys II Targaryen in the “Game of Thrones: The Mad King,” which opened Saturday at Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

(Johan Persson)

The wildly popular “Game of Thrones” franchise, which began in book form and spawned one of HBO’s most successful series of all time, is branching out to the stage. A 3.5-hour play, “Game of Thrones: The Mad King,” opened last weekend at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. Author George R. R. Martin was in attendance to celebrate, and audiences seemed delighted by the expansion of the fantasy world-building effort, with many fan questions answered.

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art this week announced its flagship restaurant: Skywalker Grill, inspired by founder George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch in Marin County. The restaurant is located on the top floor of the museum with sweeping views of the city. It will be open for lunch, dinner and weekend brunch with hours that last long after the museum closes. Think American cuisine with California-sourced ingredients, including a signature Skywalker Ranch Wagyu burger.

Self Help Graphics & Art in Los Angeles.

(Sarahi Apaez)

Self Help Graphics & Art announced the launch of a $6-million capital campaign for the completion of its permanent home at 1300 E. 1st St. in Boyle Heights. The fund is intended for the final phase of a major renovation that will turn the space into a destination arts and culture center. The goal is to complete the project by the end of the year.

Three public art pieces by street artist Banksy have cost British taxpayers more than $200,000, as public authorities work to remove, manage and protect the art, a freedom of information record request obtained by the BBC recently found.

— Jessica Gelt

And last but not least

One of L.A.’s most beloved taco trucks now has a brick-and-mortar home in Studio City.