Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A., 1945–1980

John Divola, Zuma #25, 1978/2006
Divola made the "Zuma" series over a period of two years in the late '70s. It consists of views of the Pacific as seen through the windows of an abandoned beach house that became more dilapidated and scarred in each succeeding picture. (Divola did some of the damage and graffiti-streaking himself.) The result is a kind of metaphor for L.A. itself, a crumbling work of civilization framing an eternal dream of natural beauty.

At the Geffen Contemporary at the Museum of Contemporary Art

• California's Changing Landscape