MUSEUMS

Reviews by Christopher Knight (C.K.). Compiled

by Grace Krilanovich.

Openings

Noah Purifoy: Junk Dada An exhibition of works by the Los Angeles- and Joshua Tree-based artist (1917-2004), whose influence on Postwar American Art is just beginning to be fully understood. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. Mon.-Tue., Thu. 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Fri. 11 a.m.-8 p.m., Sat.-Sun. 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; opens today. Ends Sept. 27. (323) 8576010.

Critics’ Choices

Chris Burden: Ode to Santos Dumont In the 1970s, Burden’s radical performance art courted danger and grappled with violence. The artist’s remarkable final sculpture performs a sly and elegant reversal. It rescues today’s most controversial weapon of war — a drone — and spirits it away from dark and shadowy realms of death and destruction (C.K.). Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. Mon.-Tue., Thu. 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Fri. 11 a.m.-8 p.m., Sat.Sun. 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; ends June 21. (323) 857-6010.

William Pope.L.: Trinket The installation is technically complex but visually straightforward. It stages a variety of mechanisms that manipulate imagery. Once seen, they’re unforgettable. The egalitarian promise of the American flag’s symbolism is easily acknowledged, but what makes the sculpture great is its layered depth (C.K.). Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, 152 N. Central Ave., L.A. Mon. 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thu., 11 a.m.-8 p.m.; Fri., 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; ends June 28. (213) 626-6222.

Kahlil Joseph “m.A.A.d.” is15 minutes of visual verse condensed from more than seven hours of video footage. Joseph burrows inside the rhythms of a place to describe it with amplitude and tenderness. The concentrated result is a mesmerizing hip-hop tonepoem, heartfelt and deeply moving (C.K.). Museum of Contemporary Art, 250 S. Grand Ave., L.A. Mon. 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Thu. 11 a.m.-8 p.m., Fri. 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat.-Sun. 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; ends Aug. 16. (213) 621-2766.