ArtRx LA

LOS ANGELES — This week, see a forgotten masterpiece of Japanese animation, spot murals on a bike ride through East LA, catch influential Mexican artist Pedro Friedeberg’s exhibition before it closes, and more.

 Belladonna of Sadness

When: Thursday, May 12–Thursday, May 19
Where: The Cinefamily (611 North Fairfax Avenue, Fairfax District, Los Angeles)

Never officially released in the US, Belladonna of Sadness is a gorgeous, twisted masterpiece of Japanese animation, more Heavy Metal than Studio Ghibli. The final part of the Animerama trilogy, produced by Japanese anime legend Osamu Tezuka with Eiichi Yamamoto, the 1973 film combines Tolkein-inspired fantasy with a classic revenge story, told through rapturous visuals and set to a blistering psych rock soundtrack by Masahiko Satoh.

 Prison Arts Collective: Through the Wall

When: Opens Saturday, May 14, 3–6pm
Where: CB1-G Gallery (1923 S. Santa Fe Ave., Downtown, Los Angeles)

Founded by artist and writer Annie Buckley, the Prison Arts Collective (PAC) is a program that facilitates art education at three California state prisons. Through the Wall brings together dozens of paintings, drawings, and sculptures from incarcerated artists, with all proceeds from the sale of work going back to support the program. There will also be a participating teaching artist in the gallery during the exhibition run, offering tours and answering questions about the program.

 Eastside Mural Ride

When: Saturday, May 14, 9am–3pm
Where: Mariachi Plaza (1831 East 1st Street, Boyle Heights, Los Angeles)

Since murals became legal again in Los Angeles in 2013, there has a boom in street art in the city. This Saturday, the second Eastside Mural Ride will take place, offering an opportunity to see some of the colorful work lining the boulevards of Boyle Heights and East LA. The family friendly bike ride will leave Mariachi Plaza at 10am, winding up at Self Help Graphics later that afternoon.

 Eleanor Antin: “What Time Is It?”

When: Opens Saturday, May 14, 4–6pm
Where: Diane Rosenstein (831 North Highland Ave., Hollywood, Los Angeles)

Artist Eleanor Antin is well known for making conceptual works that are nonetheless very physical, such as “Blood of a Poet Box” (1965–1968) featuring blood samples from poets, or “Carving: A Traditional Sculpture” (1972), a photographic chronicle of the artist’s nude body during a month-long crash diet. “What Time Is It?” recreates two seminal works — “California Lives” (1969) and “Portraits Of Eight New York Women” (1970 — that stress the link between identity and consumer culture and that have only become more prescient with time.

 sound: Bobb Bruno, Dan Clucas, and Simone Forti

When: Sunday, May 15, 4–7pm
Where: Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook (6300 Hetzler Rd, Culver City, California)

Most concerts take place in auditoriums or theaters where the acoustics can be tightly controlled, but the Society for the Activation of Social Space through Art and Sound (SASSAS) stages performances in people’s homes or outdoors. This Sunday’s performance on the picturesque Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook features experimental guitarist (and member of Best Coast) Bobb Bruno, trumpeter Dan Clucas, as well as a restaging of choreographer Simone Forti’s “Huddle” (1961) featuring volunteer performers from the MOCA teen program.

Impossible Worlds: The Early Works of Pedro Friedeberg

When: Closes Sunday, May 15
Where: Riverside Art Museum (3425 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside, California)

Mexican artist and designer Pedro Friedeberg is a true maverick, who for six decades has eschewed popular trends in favor of his idiosyncratic blend of surrealism, fantastical follies, and irreverent humor. Impossible Worlds, which closes this weekend, brings together 40 works on paper from his earliest period, revealing the origins of one of the most influential living artists in Mexico.