Social Studies

Life can be confusing, even frightening. Avishai Zonenberg inspects chairs burned in a fire he discovered at Congregation Kehillas Yaakov in Los Angeles. At the new Getty Center in Brentwood, arriving visitors puzzle over the portable CD gallery guide and welcome map. And the budding soccer stars of the Blue Gators study the competition at a Diamond Bar Youth Soccer League meet.

Copying a Master

Ah, humankind. Always trying to improve on things. At left, Mother Nature--the undisputed master of landscape painting--gives us “Rainy Day in Venice,” in which she sweeps a luminous rainbow across a Minimalist gray background. Above, Peter Erskine uses mirrors and prisms to produce a high-tech duplication of that style. He calls his piece “Sun Dancer.” It’s a walk-through artwork in a courtyard at Puente Hills Mall.