It’s officially the unofficial start of summer, and we couldn’t be more excited! Friday evening at 6 pm, enjoy the sounds of master tenor and alto saxophonist and company, Azar Lawrence Quartet, at Jazz at LACMA. A little later catch the latest installment from the film series Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema beginning at 7:30 pm with Blind Chance and A Short Film about Killing. Down the road at the Compton Art+Film Lab at Lueders Park you can see a collection of short animations, narratives, essay films, and experimental works from L.A.–based filmmakers at the LACMA9 Shorts Program Friday at 8 pm.
Image courtesy of Johnny Polanco
On Saturday at 2 pm LACMA welcomes writer Frank T. Rios, part of the Venice Beat scene, for a Poetry Reading in the recently opened exhibition Edward Biberman, Abbot Kinney and the Story of Venice. Into the evening, wander out to our backyard, Hancock Park, and be a part of the 2014 season opener of Latin Sounds with one of the West Coast’s hottest salsa acts, Johnny Polanco y Su Conjunto Amistad, at 5 pm. Latin Sounds takes place every Saturday at 5 pm all summer long, through Labor Day.
Once the sun sets, see more from the film series The Essential Orson Welles in the Bing Theater. Starting at 7:30 pm with the inventive noir classic, The Lady from Shanghai stars Welles and his estranged wife, Rita Hayworth, and screening at 9:10 pm Mr. Arkadin is the pulp rendition of Citizen Kane.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3lW5UKsbP4
Sunday, join the fun on free daily tours of galleries and exhibitions, like a 50-minute walk-through of Calder and Abstraction: From Avant-Garde to Iconic at 11:30 am (with admission to the special exhibition) or an exploration of 18th-century French sculpture from the collection at 1 pm. Families in particular can take advantage of the weekly Andell Family Sundays at 12:30 pm, with art projects this month inspired by furry felines. Residents from Hacienda Heights that participated in the LACMA9 Art+Film Lab a few months back are invited to the museum this Sunday for free general admission. See their stories in Believe Is Seeing, a commissioned video work by artist Nicole Miller on loop in the Bing Theater starting at 12:30 pm. Wind down after a long day at Sundays Live with the Colburn Youth Orchestra performing at 6 pm, conducted by Maxim Eshkenazy.
On Memorial Day Monday, everyone is invited to LACMA for a free day at the museum, sponsored by Target. Discover what’s new in our galleries like important national treasures in Chinese Paintings from Japanese Collections, gestural figuration in Sam Doyle: The Mind’s Eye, and the kinetic energy in the crowd favorite Metropolis II. Guests that day can partake in free bilingual tours, art-making activities, and live music by Persian act Mehrdad Arabi and Friends. Come one, come all.
Roberto Ayala