A sign in Beverly Hills read“Stop making stupid people famous.” A makeshift grave marked victims of gun violence on Melrose Ave. A “Useless Plastic Box” was priced at $99.99 inside a Sherman Oaks Best Buy. Read more...

Photo: Plastic Jesus is a Los Angeles-based artist whose artwork is inspired by popular culture, politics and news. His work, which will be on display in Kerckhoff Art Gallery until Feb. 1, aims to draw viewers attention to problems the artist sees in society, such as homelessness.

A woman furrows her eyebrows and grits her teeth, bracing herself as she pulls up the hem of her skirt. She injects a syringe into her thigh, and on the table beside her sits the source of her pain and detrimental pleasure: morphine. Read more...

Photo: UCLA’s Hammer Museum’s newest exhibition, “Tea and Morphine: Women in Paris, 1880 to 1914,” comprises of about 100 works that explore Parisian female archetypes, including Eugene Grasset’s “La morphinomane (The Morphine Addict).”

To costume designer and professor Deborah Landis, the story of a stage performance begins before the characters utter a single word. Landis, founding director of the David Copley Center for the Study of Costume Design, said costumes are integral in developing the characters’ story. Read more...

From teaching the young stars of “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” how to dance to choreographing Radiohead’s “Lotus Flower” music video and working for the Royal Ballet in London, British choreographer and director Wayne McGregor has played a lot of different roles in the world of dance. Read more...

Photo: British choreographer Wayne McGregor brings his dance show to Royce Hall Friday and Saturday, inspired by cognitive research, the age of Enlightenment and the French philosopher Diderot.

Upon entering New Wight Gallery, a transparent sheet filled with multitudes of identical doll heads wearing different colored hats stands out. However, under closer inspection, one realizes the hats are actually condoms. Read more...

Photo: Julia Wang “Plastic” On display at UCLA’s New Wight Gallery from Jan. 16 through Jan. 30, “Recess” ranges from inviting and playful works to provocative and interpretive ideas of the aging process. The exhibit’s pieces, such as Julia Wang’s “Plastic,” pictured here, contrast the innocence of childhood play with mature themes of adulthood.

After four years of dancing together, Grace Matteson and Taylor Whitakers’ years of close friendship inevitably surface in the synchronization of their movements. “We have connected so much outside of dancing that now we connect in the dance,” Matteson said. Read more...

Photo: Synthesis Dance Theater is a group of student dancers who have different backgrounds in hip-hop, ballet, contemporary and jazz. On Friday, its showcase will feature 10 dances that explore a broad range of dance styles.