Alexis Smith, Snapshot, 1982, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of Harold I. Huttas, © Alexis Smith

This Weekend at LACMA

March 18, 2016
Katie Antonsson, USC Annenberg Journalism Fellow

Special exhibition Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Medium opens this weekend! An exploration of Mapplethorpe's body of work from early drawings to Polaroid photography to archive materials, the exhibition highlights the artist's relationship to New York's sexual and artistic undergrounds as well as his experimentation with different media.

A companion exhibition, Physical: Sex and the Body in the 1980s, also opens on Sunday. The show pulls from LACMA's permanent collection, revealing how the body was at the center of creative consciousness in the 1980s. Responses to advertisement, identity politics, and the AIDS crisis yielded work that commented on the power and fragility of the human body.

The two shows are in conversation, placing Mapplethorpe's work alongside that of his peers to further illustrate the inquiries and concerns of art in the 1980s. Both exhibitions are on BCAM Level 2.

On Sunday afternoon, enjoy a curator-led tour of Senses of Time: Video and Film-Based Works of Africa at 2 pm. Polly Roberts, UCLA professor of world arts and cultures and consulting curator for African art at LACMA, will guide visitors through the multifaceted exhibition, giving insight into the six works on display and how they consider time from various perspectives.

Sundays Live brings pianist Amy Gustafson to the Bing Theater. Gustafson, who will perform an all-Debussy program, has graced stages the world over with her award-winning performances. The performance begins at 6 pm.

Tours this weekend include South and Southeast Asian Art on Friday at 3 pm, European Art on Saturday at 3 pm, and Modern Art on Sunday at 3 pm.