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WEDNESDAY

Ed Ruscha’s art is archetypal California: all sleek-surfaced, and, of course, highwaycentric. So what’s under the hood? Two short films the artist made in the early ’70s provide some hints. In Miracle, solitary auto mechanic Jimmy becomes obsessed with the carburetor of a ’65 Mustang, approaching it with a mixture of art, science, and religion. He gets so involved, in fact, that he forgets all about his date with foxy, long-suffering Trixie (played by ex-Mama Michelle Phillips). Any Freudian can see that—to Jimmy, if not to Ed—carburetors are better than sex. You might need a Jungian, however, to decode Premium, in which an even stranger dude (with a celebrity chauffeur) tries to convince another sexy woman to climb onto…well, you’d better see for yourself. And you thought Brian Wilson was the only Angeleno to drive his little GTO to the brink of madness. The program starts at 12:30 p.m. (see Showtimes for other dates) in the National Gallery of Art’s East Building Auditorium, 4th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. Free. (202) 842-6799. (Mark Jenkins)