Explore Time Travel Through Art at LA’s La Brea Tar Pits, LACMA & Academy Museum

Explore Time Travel Through Art at LA’s La Brea Tar Pits, LACMA & Academy Museum

November 16, 2024 Catherine Williams - Chief Editor News

Time Traveling Through LA’s Museums

By Jim Farber

Los Angeles offers a unique experience that lets you travel through time. You can visit three museums within walking distance along Wilshire Boulevard that explore prehistoric life, Hollywood’s dystopian visions, and more.

  1. La Brea Tar Pits Museum: Walk among the bones of ancient creatures like woolly mammoths and saber-tooth tigers. The museum presents dioramas that showcase these animals in their environments. The tar pits are one of the world’s top fossil excavation sites, revealing remains dating back 10,000 to 20,000 years and even shells from the Cretaceous period.

    Artist Mark Dion collaborates with the museum’s paleontologists in his exhibit called “Excavations.” This exhibition combines real science with playful satire by labeling animal skeletons with names of local artists and landmarks, like the “David Hockney femur.”

  2. Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA): LACMA features multiple exhibits linked to the theme of PST ART. “We Live in Painting: The Nature of Color in Mesoamerican Art” explores ancient artifacts’ color science and art. “Mapping the Infinite: Cosmologies Across Cultures” showcases cosmic depictions created with help from local observatories. Additionally, Josiah McElheny’s “Island Universe” presents sculptures that represent the multiverse concept.

  3. Academy Museum of Motion Pictures: End your tour at this museum. The exhibit “Cyberpunk: Envisioning Possible Futures Through Cinema” immerses you in a future filled with cyborgs and virtual worlds from films like “Tron” and “Blade Runner.” The display features iconic film props and detailed background paintings that create these dystopian futures.

Planning Your Visit

  • PST ART: Art & Science Collide: Visit PST ART.
  • La Brea Tar Pits and Museum: Check La Brea Tar Pits.
  • Los Angeles County Museum of Art: Explore LACMA.
  • Academy Museum of Motion Pictures: Discover more at Academy Museum.

Experience the past and future in one exciting day in Los Angeles!