Art

MEXICO CITY -- Skull motifs. Dollar bills pasted on a wall. Phrases written in neon lights. Figures cut out of photographs. Or, if you like, a bunch of lines on paper. It's hardly surprising that the offerings at Zona Maco , the Mexico City contemporary art bazaar that opened its 10th edition Wednesday, tend to look and feel like the art for sale at any other big fair. Many of the galleries with showcases at the glitzy five-day event are visiting from established art centers like New York or Milan.

MUSIC With a voice equally adept at delving into the gruff roots of the blues or the most weightless melodies, Dianne Reeves is one of the most prominent jazz vocalists working today. Paired with the Luckman Jazz Orchestra, the four-time Grammy winner should come close to liftoff on multiple occasions here. The Luckman Fine Arts Complex, 5151 State University Drive, L.A. Sat., 8 p.m. $40-$65. http://www.luckmanarts.org .

For someone not yet thirty, the Turkish-born artist Refik Anadol has been remarkably prolific in the wrapping of large-scale cultural institutions - museums, university buildings, historical landmarks - with technologically formidable digital video projections. He's created civic-scale digital installations and performances in Turkey, Germany, Austria, Canada, and New Mexico, often generating imagery based on musical scores or field recordings. He is currently at work with Frank Gehry's architectural firm on a plan for next year to wrap the Disney Concert Hall with a kinetic visual composition based on Gustavo Dudamel's movements over the course of a performance.

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma was in Washington this week to press for an increase in arts funding from the federal government. The musician was joined by former Guns N' Roses drummer Matt Sorum, and they performed together briefly for an audience on Capitol Hill. Ma was in Washington for Arts Advocacy Day -- an annual event that took place Monday and Tuesday. The event is intended to boost awareness and government funding for the arts sector. The nonprofit advocacy group Americans for the Arts is the key organizer and hosted a Google Hangout discussion that featured Ma answering questions from the public.

With California still ranked last nationally in per capita state spending on government grants to the arts, advocates hope an improving economy will bode well for the first legislative bid in four years to address its lowly status. An Assembly bill introduced by Adrin Nazarian (D-Sherman Oaks) would dedicate $75 million a year from the state's general fund for the California Arts Council - up from the current $1 million. The bill, AB 580, passed the Assembly's committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism and Internet Media by a 4-2 party-line vote Tuesday.

Museum leaders are generally reluctant to see themselves engaged in competition, but the Museum of Modern Art in New York just lost a big one - and will lose its reputation as the city's only great destination for the Cubism of Picasso and Braque as well. Collector and former cosmetics executive Leonard Lauder confirmed Tuesday that he was giving his collection of 78 Cubist sculptures, paintings and drawings to the Metropolitan Museum of Art instead of MoMA, the modern art citadel on 53 rd Street.

Here's how I am afraid "Mad Men" will end next year: With Jon Hamm's Don Draper in a white suit, heading to Studio 54. Here's how I hope it will end: The whole series is revealed to be a story told by Roger Sterling (John Slattery) in a Ventura County sweat lodge. It may seem morbid to contemplate the demise of a show that has so inarguably changed the nature of television for the better. Just when we seemed doomed to death by reality programming, AMC's "Mad Men" proved that smart, stylish television could drive the cultural conversation as effectively as any Kardashian.

Mexican art and Mexican American art often have treated each other more like strangers or distant cousins than like the fraternal twins they really are. In the United States, apart from in California and the Southwest, many museums and art professionals until relatively recently tended to isolate or ignore Mexico's contributions to global movements such as Modernism or Conceptual and performance art. Similarly, in Mexico, U.S. Chicano art of...

Actor Val Kilmer brings the famous American writer Mark Twain to life via his play "Citizen Twain. " In it Kilmer becomes unrecognizable as he waxes poetic and philosophical on subjects including love, death, racism, religion and more. Valley Performing Arts Center, 18111 Nordhoff St., L.A. 8 p.m. Sat. Prices vary. (818) 677-8800; http://www.valleyperformingartscenter.org.

After the coffee. Before remembering to record NBC's "Hannibal. " The Skinny: For some reason my DVR didn't record "Modern Family" last night but it did capture some good discounts on QVC. You don't need me to tell you that today's headlines include a ton of coverage of Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon. Also, LucasArts is going away and new episodes of "Arrested Development" will be here for Memorial Day weekend! Daily Dose: Now the British can start living their best life too. Discovery Communications and Oprah Winfrey are taking the OWN Network to Britain and putting its shows on the TLC channel there.