In a lush exhibition at Koplin Del Rio, Robert Pruitt continues his engagement with Afro-futurist imagery, evolving his quixotic portraits in directions that are subtler and more ambitious.
For years, Pruitt’s work has portrayed African American characters engaged in makeshift science fiction: a hat with a clothes-hanger antenna or choir robes emblazoned with “Star Trek” insignia. Now the futuristic references feel more real than wishful.
“Captain America” depicts a female hero in a skin-tight suit and a high, fan-like hairdo. A headpiece that extends over one cheek feels vaguely African, but it also could be a microphone. Another woman, in street clothes, nonchalantly wears a jet pack strapped to her back.
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When the Mariinsky Ballet performed “Cinderella” at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Oct. 8, even the wondrous Diana Vishneva as Cinderella couldn’t bring unity to the movement, but she danced with flawless, fearless authority. Read more >>
(Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
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Branden Jacobs-Jenkins leaves a rehearsal of his play “Appropriate,” opening Oct. 4 at the Mark Taper Forum, to eat first with a reporter, then later with his agent and some unspecified Hollywood people, who presumably hope to lure him away from the field and city where he has experienced meteoric success in the last five years. Read more >>
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Soprano Abigail Fischer performs Oct. 7 in the opera “Songs from the Uproar” at REDCAT in Los Angeles.
(Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
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Moisés Kaufman’s muscular revival of “Bent,” which played at the Mark Taper Forum, opening on July 26, renders what many had written off as a parochial drama about the persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany into a gripping tale of love, courage and identity. Read review >>
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Malaviki Sarukkai performing at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica on July 19, 2015. Sarukkai is the best-known exponent of South Indian classical dance.
(Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
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Bramwell Tovey conducts the L.A. Phil with pianist Garrick Ohlsson in Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 at the Hollywood Bowl on July 14, 2015.
(Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
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Argentine dancer Herman Cornejo performs in the West Coast premiere of “Tango y Yo” as part of the Latin portion of BalletNow.
Dancers rehearse a one-night-only performance choregraphed by Raiford Rogers, one of L.A.’s most-noted choreographers. This year the dance will be to a new original score by Czech composer Zbynek Mateju.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Oscar-winning actor Ben Kingsley in Los Angeles on July 9, 2015.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Mia Sinclair Jenness, left, Mabel Tyler and Gabby Gutierrez alternate playing the title role in the musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s “Matilda” at the Ahmanson Theatre. The three are shown during a day at Santa Monica Pier on June 16, 2015.
(Christina House / For The Times)
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American Contemporary Ballet Company members Zsolt Banki and Cleo Magill perform a dance routine originally done by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. This performance was presented as part of “Music + Dance: L.A.” on Friday, June 19, 2015.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Miguel, a Grammy-winning guitarist, producer, singer and lyricist, is photographed in San Pedro on Wednesday, June 10, 2015. His new album “Wildheart,” explores L.A.’s “weird mix of hope and desperation.”
(Christina House / For The Times)
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Los Angeles-born artist Mark Bradford is photographed in front of “The Next Hot Line.” This piece is part of his show “Scorched Earth,” installed at the Hammer Museum in Westwood, June 11, 2015.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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Paige Faure, center, plays Ella in “Cinderella,” which opened at the Ahmanson Theater on March 18. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
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The Los Angeles Opera concluded its season with “The Marriage of Figaro,” with Roberto Tagliavini as Figaro and Pretty Yende as Susanna, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
(Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
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“Trinket,” a monumental installation by Newark-born, Chicago-based artist William Pope.L, features an American flag that is 16 feet tall and 45 feet long. The work is on display at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA through June 28.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Conductor Gustavo Dudamel’s contract with the Los Angeles Philharmonic has been extended to mid-2022. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
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Alex Knox, from left, Carolyn Ratteray, Lynn Milgrim and Paige Lindsey White in “Pygmalion” in spring 2015 at the Pasadena Playhouse.
(Mariah Tauger / For The Times)
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On March 17, Google celebrated the addition of more than 5,000 images to its Google Street Art project with a launch party at the Container Yard in downtown Los Angeles.
(Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)
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Los Angeles architect Jon Jerde, who was outspoken about his opinions on the state of public space, died on Feb. 9. The CityWalk at Universal Studios is among his famous designs. (Christina House / For The Times)
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Diana Vishneva as Princess Aurora in American Ballet Theatre‘s production of “Sleeping Beauty” that premiered at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in March. (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)
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Los Angeles Philharmonic assistant conductor Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla leads the orchestra in her first L.A. Phil subscription concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall on March 1 in a program of Mozart, Beethoven and Stravinsky. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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Rachele Gilmore as Alice and Christopher Lemmings as Mouse with supernumeraries in “Alice in Wonderland.” Susanna Malkki conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic in this collaboration with the L.A. Opera at Walt Disney Concert Hall. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
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Marcia Rodd, left, and Dick Cavett reprise their roles in “Hellman v. McCarthy,” a play inspired by actual events on “The Dick Cavett Show,” at Theatre 40 in February. The production starred Cavett as himself and Rodd as literary celebrity Mary McCarthy. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
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Irish playwright Conor McPherson‘s latest play, “The Night Alive,” ran at the Geffen Playhouse from Feb. 11 through March 15. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Ric Salinas, left, Herbert Siguenza and Richard Montoya, of the three-man Latino theater group Culture Clash, brought their “Chavez Ravine: An L.A. Revival” to the Kirk Douglas Theatre to mark the group’s 30th anniversary. The play ran from Feb. 4 through March 1.
To some extent the works have lost a wistful “what if” quality in favor of a more assertive, even aggressive presence. The seated woman and man in “Garveyite Celestials” link arms over a rifle with nary a futuristic detail in sight. “Archangel” eschews the figure altogether in favor of a sinister-looking surveillance drone from which dangle a cigarette box, flowers and a T-shirt that reads “I can’t breathe.” The folds of the T-shirt create the impression of a face: a shroud for Eric Garner. The piece gets at the double-edged bargain we’ve made with technologies that are no longer futuristic. Someone is always watching but also bearing witness.
Koplin Del Rio, 6031 Washington Blvd., Culver City, (310) 836-9055, through Dec. 5. Closed Sundays through Tuesdays. www.koplindelrio.com
