Art and wealth crossed paths in a big way last week in New York, where the late Peggy and David Rockefeller’s collection had already set a world record at an auction by Christie’s that was ongoing as of press time. Look for insights on the intersection of art and wealth in Los Angeles in next week’s edition, when Marc Porter, chairman of the Americas for Christie’s – and the fellow who brought highlights of the Rockefeller collection here as part of a pre-auction road show – weighs in on the subject as part of our annual Wealthiest Angelenos report … Washington, D.C., and Mexico City aren’t sharing much these days, but that will change soon thanks to art – and to East L.A.-based AltaMed Health Services Corp., a nonprofit that has grown into a linchpin of the region’s health care landscape, with more than $400 million in revenue a year. AltaMed Chief Executive Cástulo de la Rocha has been the driving force behind a corporate art collection that has decorated the organization’s clinics, senior service centers and other facilities for years, and he more recently commissioned Cypress Park-based curator Julian Bermudez to mount an exhibit titled “Before the 45th | Action Reaction in Chicano and Latino Art,” which was on display at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington from Sept. 5-Dec. 29, 2017. A strong run there has led to plans for a new art exhibit organized by AltaMed at the Museo de Art Carillo Gill in the Mexican capital, with Bermudez on the job again … You won’t have to enter a gallery to glimpse the latest addition to the art landscape in El Segundo, where a psychedelic mural by surfer-dude-cum-avant-garde artist John Van Hamersveld stands 32 feet high and runs 510 feet long around a retired 7.3 million-gallon oil storage tank of the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power. The work was commissioned by the Los Angeles offices of TRC, an engineering, environmental consulting and construction management outfit, with the installation paid for by the DWP. Van Hamersveld is a graduate of El Segundo High School, and known as the artist who created the movie poster for “The Endless Summer,” as well as concert posters and album covers for Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Grateful Dead, among others. And talk about raising the region’s artistic profile: the Day-Glo pastiche that Van Hamersveld has conceived is big enough to be clearly visible in daylight to passengers in and out of LAX … Longtime Central City Association boss and current Downtown Center Business Improvement District CEO Carol Schatz knows something about the art of advocacy, as reflected in the recent naming of the intersection of Wilshire & Hope as Carol Schatz Square. It’s true that a couple of blocks can seem worlds apart when you’re downtown, and so can the distance between the private and public sectors. Yet the notion of honoring Schatz during the May 4 ceremony brought Steven Hirsh of the Cooper Design Space at 9th & Los Angeles together with Steve Needleman of the Orpheum Theatre over on Broadway – and both shared a moment with U.S. Rep Lucille Roybal-Allard, who represents much of the city’s center in Washington … Politics has been called the art of the possible, and it’s certainly possible that Antonio Villaraigosa could be California’s next governor. The prospect looked altogether plausible when Villaraigosa stopped at 1st & State to mark the May 5 opening of his campaign’s field office in Boyle Heights. The former mayor of L.A. drew an impressive crowd of a couple of hundred or so amid the Cinco de Mayo festivities that dominated the day on the Eastside. More impressive was the 40 or so who stayed around to sign up as volunteers, … Sullivan Says: Anyone else notice the artful consignment of San Francisco to status as a “small city” in the L.A. Times’ endorsement of Villaraigosa last week?