Kara Walker at SFMOMA, Solid Gold soul with the Gay Men’s Chorus
Kara Walker’s study for her SFMOMA installation “Fortuna and the Immortality Garden (Machine),” 2023-2024. (Kara Walker) Hey there! Welcome to another edition of Essential Arts…
Mark Bradford has helped define American art in the 21st century
Mark Bradford, photographed at the Los Angeles Times in El Segundo on Oct. 4. Mark Bradford got a late start as an artist. A former…
‘A Strange Loop,’ Johnny Cash and things to do in L.A.
“A Strange Loop” at the Ahmanson. (Alessandra Mello) It’s a big week for SoCal stages, and Essential Arts has you covered with staff picks for…
Things to do: ‘Jelly’s Last Jam,’ expert guide to the Getty
“Up My Sleeve” by Paula Wilson, 2021. Woodcut, relief, silkscreen, collagraph, monotype and digital print; oil-based ink, oil, acrylic, muslin and canvas; 35 inches by…
Things to do: ‘Lion King’ at Hollywood bowl, Hockney’s ‘Turandot’
Detail from pascALEjandro’s “Nada, Nada, Nada,” 2019. Ink, watercolor, colored pencil, polymer clay, gold leaf, and glass on paper, 44.25 inches by 30.25 inches by…
Venice Family Clinic Art Walk, a fight to save L.A. youth orchestras and your guide to L.A. culture this week
Civic Youth Orchestra (Courtesy of Civic Youth Orchestra / Photo by Bill Kraus) Hello and welcome to another week of Essential Arts, where we highlight…
Stars Wars Day, Alice Wang’s extraterrestrial art and more LA culture
Hello and May the 4th be with you! From a cultural galaxy near, near by, the Essential Arts newsletter is back again, corralling the best…
Roasting LACMA’s big bet in Vegas
John Valadez’s 2024 acrylic painting “Chaos,” 84 inches by 144 inches, at Luis de Jesus gallery in Los Angeles. (Courtesy of John Valadez and Luis…
Festival of Books at USC, Andrew Scott and your ultimate culture guide to the weekend and beyond
(Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times) Apparently some lady named Taylor has a new album — or two. We’re still trying to make sense of “Tortured Poets…
Best things to do in L.A.: ‘Chocolate Room,’ Maurice Sendak
Ed Ruscha, “Chocolate Room,” 1970, chocolate on paper (Christopher Knight / Los Angeles Times) It’s been asked before, and we’ll ask it again: If music…
What to do in L.A.: ‘Fat Ham,’ Coachella, Virginia Woolf dance
Welcome to another edition of Essential Arts, where the question of the week just might be: How have 99 Cents Only Stores shaped L.A.’s cultural…
Essential Arts: Easter music, Butterfly Pavilion, the Broad
It’s a new Essential Arts! Based on feedback from readers, we’re rethinking this newsletter and adding recommendations from our prize-winning writers on the very best…
Carolina Miranda on chronicling L.A.’s rich artistic communities
It’s the weekend and my main goal is to get over to Café Tropical for a Cuban sandwich. I’m Carolina A. Miranda, art and design…
‘Frida’ doc on Amazon Prime Video captures painter’s voice
It’s the weekend and I’m dreaming about sushi from Waka Sakura in Gardena. I’m Carolina A. Miranda, art and design columnist at the Los Angeles…
How 2024 Oscar noms ‘Barbie’ and ‘Poor Things’ use design
It’s that time again! The blocks around the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood have been transformed into a security zone worthy of Baghdad in wartime in…
L.A. design is focus of New York Review of Architecture edition
In these trying, rainy times, I’ve been eating all the comfort foods, but I have developed special reverence for the oyster and mushroom porridge at…
‘Big Data’ downloads humor and humanity in a play about tech
Full disclosure: I used numerous technological devices to build this newsletter spotlighting a new play about our use of technological devices. I’m entertainment reporter Ashley…
Ed Templeton captures skating life at Long Beach Museum of Art
I’ve been thinking a lot about noodles. And how the Fantastic World of the Portuguese Sardine has limited-edition sardines in honor of the film “Poor…
With Oceanwide Plaza, L.A. joins cities with dead high-rises
There’s nothing like a week that includes both a monster California storm and Supreme Court arguments on Trump’s ability to run for dictator, I mean…
How Netflix’s ‘Griselda’ captures ’70s cocaine excess
It’s been a week! When I’m not obsessing over the Nicki Minaj-Megan Thee Stallion feud (I’m Team Megan), I’m knee-deep in narco novelas. I’m Carolina…