ArtRx LA

Emily Mast, B!RDBRA!N, 2013, Performance, 40:00 min. (photo by Emily Mast and Cristal Jones, via hammer.ucla.edu)

The Los Angeles arts scene is greeting July with a guided art walk, a documentary, and some live performances — including one by Emily Mast. This week is also your last chance to catch two great shows before they end on Friday, but with the weekend arrives a colorful exhibition at LACMA celebrating the art of Japanese book design. Here’s your guide to some of LA’s upcoming, essential art events.

 1st Thursday ArtWalk — San Pedro 

When: Thursday, July 3, 6:30–9pm
Where: Meet at the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce (390 W. 7th Street, San Pedro, LA)

Head to San Pedro for a guided walking tour of the area’s galleries and artists’ studios between 4th and 8th streets and Pacific Avenue and Centre Street. One standout is the Corita Kent show at fINdings Art Center, which features the artist’s serigraphs centering on Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement. Check out a map of all the galleries here.

 Cinema Orange Film Series: In No Great Hurry

When: Thursday, July 3, 8pm
Where: OCMA (850 San Clemente Drive, Newport Beach, Orange County)

Director Tomas Leach explores the life and art of photographer Saul Leiter in his film “In No Great Hurry.” Featuring conversations with the artist himself on his work, family, religion, and more, the film remains a tribute to Leiter, who passed away last November at the age of 89.

 Emily Mast

 Men in LA: Three Generations of Drawing

When: Closes Saturday, July 5

Where: The Box (805 Traction Avenue, Chinatown, LA)

Naotaka Hiro, Benjamin Weissman, and Paul McCarthy come together for this summer show at The Box. United through an almost compulsive instinct to draw, the three men’s massive body of work takes over the exhibition space. A combination of new work and collaborative drawings by Weissman and McCarthy recycled from the 2009 show Quilting Sessions at the Zacheta National Gallery of Art in Poland, the exhibit explores issues of masculinity, media, literature, and personal exploration. —AT

Alex Hubbard, Montecore’s, 2013, multi-media assemblage with museum crate, 91.5 x 69 x 41 (photo via tellesfineart.com)

 The Motorman

When: Closes Saturday, July 5
Where: Richard Telles Fine Art (7380 Beverly Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, LA)

The title of Richard Telles’ current group exhibition refers to David Ohle’s disorienting 1972 sci-fi novel The Motorman. The esoteric literary reference alludes to the show’s knack for re-imagining familiar scenes through new and peculiar lenses. A rocking chair partially constructed from an oil drum, a functioning bar inside a shipping container, these are the types of familiar and yet disorienting objects one will find on view at the gallery through this Saturday. —AT

 Zuan: Japanese Design Books

When: Saturday, July 5–Sunday, October 12
Where: LACMA (5905 Wilshire Blvd, Mid-Wilshire, LA)

Opening concurrent to the museum’s exhibition on modern kimonos, Zuan: Japanese Design Books explores in printed matter the same evolutions in textile design that influenced the form of the Japanese garment. Featuring over 50 books and prints from the 19th and 20th centuries, the exhibition reveals how the dissemination of these small, decorated publications not only inspired the styles of formal and informal kimonos but also artists decorating fans, ceramics and other wares.

 Bryan Zanisnik: The Problem with Appetite

When: Monday, July 7, 6–8pm
Where: LAXART (2640 S. La Cienega, Culver City, LA)

Following the weekend of festivities and barbecues held in celebration of Independence Day, Bryan Zanisnik presents a new performance examining today’s culture of food and appetite. The show’s description merely states, “Globalized hamburgers. Over consumption as patriotism. Pancake breakfast summits,” which is vague but nevertheless intriguing. Zanisnik also has a pretty interesting personal history, as illustrated in this comic strip timeline by comic artist Eric Winkler.

 Lucky Dragons: Actual Reality

When: Tuesday, July 8, 7:30–9:30pm
Where: Hammer Museum (10899 Wilshire Blvd, Westwood, LA)

The ongoing project of LA-based artists Sarah Rara and Luke Fischbeck, Lucky Dragons has been presenting participatory live shows since 2000. With Actual Reality, the duo brings a two-hour, multimedia work to the Hammer museum consisting of a scored performance and video piece to recreate Bob Miller’s Light Walks, which examined the interactions of sunlight and pinholes.

*   *   *

With listings by Alexandra Taylor