Weekend

Weekend: LA Art Show Opens

The contemporary art wonderland returns to DTLA. Plus: Immersive Van Gogh, Plantopia, the Bob Baker Marionettes, Fly-In Drive-In

Krista Kim

What to Know

  • July 29-Aug. 1, 2021
  • LA Convention Center
  • $30 general admission (single day)

LA Art Show: Galleries have reopened, and many museums, too, but if you've been craving an art-strong extravaganza that boasts a plethora of paintings, photographs, sculptures, mixed media, and all sorts of powerful pieces, this July 29-Aug. 1 visual feast is the place to submerge yourself. Will you find a new painter to follow, a space you connect with, a style lifts you? It's typically a wintertime event, but it moved to summer, though the show's location will be familiar to longtime fans: Los Angeles Convention Center.

Immersive Van Gogh: Loving an artist's work, through and through? It can give a lifelong aficionado the soul-stirring sensation of stepping inside the world created by the visionary they adore, each and every time they view a favorite artwork. But what if you could be fully enveloped by Vincent Van Gogh's masterpieces, while enjoying an original soundtrack, at the former Amoeba Records in Hollywood? A lauded projection production, one that recently captivated Paris, will do just that, starting on July 31.

Plantopia: How are your ferns feeling today? Have you given your pothos a cooling spritz? And is your aloe on the up-and-up? Obsessing over houseplants has long been a daily passion for people, but in the last couple of years this creative calling has gone wide, and wonderful, with a line-up of Instragram plant pros providing looks inside their leafy homes. Now Union Station is giving LA's devoted plant-raisers a place to buy, pick up tips, and hobnob with fans of frilly, flowery, oh-so-green growing things. It all takes root, for free, on July 31 (but do reserve a spot ahead of time).

Bob Baker Marionettes: These perfectly prance-tastic, funnily frolicksome, and super-sweet, on-the-string superstars of this decades-old theater have popped up around town over the last 16 months, giving at-home kids plenty of adorable DIY classes, Zoom calls, and holiday-themed presentations. Now live shows are returning to the troupe's Highland Park theater on July 31, a newer location for the wholesome marionettes but most definitely historic to its core. For tickets and times of the "Re-Opening Revelry!," prance this way now.

The Fly-In Drive-In: We don't typically wing our way to the movies, donning our goggles and flight jacket before we come in for a landing. But we can find our way to Tustin, and a double feature that's featuring a pair of '30s charmers ("Flying Down to Rio" and "Love on the Run," sweet). It's all flickering at Mess Hall Market, next to the Naval Air Station Santa Ana, giving fans of flight and vintage films plenty to look at during the July 31 event. The flight path for this festive fundraiser? It was planned by the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles.

Pictured: "Mars House" by Krista Kim

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