The golden state of the art

The California myth, from its iconography of Boosterism on citrus crate-labels to the alternating utopian and dystopian themes of a paradise landscape brazenly courting the Apocalypse, is mapped all over the artistic output of the region’s artists. “SoCal: Southern California Art of the 1960s and ‘70s from LACMA’s Collection,” explores this myth and its role in shaping the work of a varied community of artists, including “light and space” and “finish fetish” artists like Robert Irwin, Doug Wheeler, Larry Bell and John McCracken, who produced works using the same technologies of the aerospace industry, and assemblage artists George Herms, Tony Berlant and Gordon Wagner, who trucked with irreverent, even tawdry themes -- Edward Kienholz’s “Back Seat Dodge ‘38” (1964) being one iconic example.

“SoCal: Southern California Art of the 1960s and ‘70s from LACMA’s Collection,” Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. Opens Sunday. $5 to $9; 17 and younger, free. (323) 857-6000; www.lacma.org.

Noon to 8 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday; noon to 9 p.m. Friday; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Ends March 30.