John Knuth's mural, part of the Sixth Street Mural at the Standard program, shows red-orange smoke billowing out against a black background. It's the photograph of an emergency flare against a night sky, and, seen shooting up out of the desert, or on the side of a road, it probably would have an urgency to it. But on Sixth Street, the image feels instead like those lyrical scenes from movies: The protagonists are stranded somewhere big and deserted, and the camera lingers on the smoke from a flare in a melancholic way that tells you no help will be coming anytime soon. 550 S. Flower St., dwntwn.; through November. (213) 892-8080, standardculture.com.

Aug. 18-Nov. 1, 2013

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