EWESPECIAL: Vegas Art

Here we are in Vegas and on a Sunday, what better thing to do then visit Art Galleries--yes! Here we go..............

Barrick Museum

Once a natural history museum, the Barrick Museum on the University of Nevada Las Vegas campus has changed its focus to art in an attempt to fill the void left when the Las Vegas Art Museum closed its doors in early 2009. The small staff at Barrick mounts rotating exhibits for the community while raising funds to become a full time art institution. Shows have ranged from contemporary paintings and sculpture to a photography exhibit of legendary photographerAnsel Adams's black-and-white works of American landscapes and architecture, which spans five decades. Also, stop in at the Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery, which rotates student exhibits with working contemporary artists.
• 4505 South Maryland Parkway, +1 702 895 3301, barrickmuseum.unlv.edu. Open Tues, Wed, Fri 10am-6pm, Thurs 10am-8pm, Sat-Sun 10am-2pm, free admission, suggested contribution: adults $5, senior citizens $2

Neon Museum

The Neon Museum's outdoor Boneyard located in the city's Cultural Corridor is not only an international tourist destination, but also a beloved project and collection for the Las Vegas community. The sign collection goes back to the 1930s and tells the story of a famous city that erupted in the desert. All that's often left of Vegas's past is the sculptural metal and neon, arranged in this gravel lot on Las Vegas Boulevard. The guided tours are often given by employees who are exhibiting artists, and are devoted to the rich narrative of this unique city.
• Watch our video on the Neon Museum
• 821 Las Vegas Boulevard North, +1 702 387 6366, neonmuseum.org. Boneyard tours are available by prior booking only and appointment times are determined by availability of staff

Centerpiece Gallery

It's unlikely you'll stumble across this white-walled gallery near the valet at City Center's Mandarin Oriental, but it's certainly worth seeking out. Depending on where you're coming from, you'll pass chunks of City Center's $40m art collection, including works by Maya Lin (a suspended rendition of the Colorado River made from reclaimed silver) and Frank Stella (a 32ft work on canvas from his protractor series) in registration lobbies. Look out for Nancy Rubins's Big Edge, a large boat bouquet made of more than 200 tethered canoes and aluminium boats, which serves as the centrepiece for the $9bn campus of hotels.
• 3720 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Suite 181, +1 702 739 3314, centerpiecelv.com. Open daily 10am-6pm, free admission

Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art

The Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art manages to stir up a lot of press, and had visitors lining the corridor overlooking the outdoor landscaped pool when it opened in 1998. At the time, art exhibitions on the Strip were unprecedented. When a subsidiary of New York's Pace Wildenstein took over the gallery, it shocked art-world types by partnering with Boston's Museum of Fine Art, bringing works by Monet to the heart of Sin City. The gallery has also tapped into the collection at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego to mount exhibits, including the current A Sense of Place: Landscapes from Monet to Hockney.
• 3600 Las Vegas Boulevard South, +1 702 693 7871, bellagio.com/gallery. Open Sun, Mon, Tues and Thurs 10am-6pm, Wed, Fri and Sat 10am-7pm. General admission $15, senior citizens $12, children under 12 free

Cosmopolitan's P3 Studio

It wasn't too unusual to find Portland artist MK Guth camped out at the Cosmopolitan hotel's P3 Studio this year with more than 200ft of synthetic blonde hair braided into her own mane. The Rapunzel-style art installation and performance, which included thoughts and dreams of hotel guests scribbled out on pieces of fabric, is just part of the creative narrative playing out at the hotel, which has also presented murals by Shepard Fairey and Kenny Scharf in its parking garage, and rolling digital art in the hotel lobby. You will find the studio next to the beer-and cocktail-sipping guests shooting pool in the busy P3 Commons.
• 3708 Las Vegas Boulevard South, +1 702 698 7000, cosmopolitanlasvegas.com. Open daily, hours vary depending on the exhibiting artist

Contemporary Arts Center

Not-for-profit arts groups in Las Vegas have battled hard for attention in a community built around a 24-hour gaming industry and its flashy entertainment scene, but if you look hard enough you'll find success stories such as the 21-year-old Contemporary Arts Center and its avant-garde exhibits. Located in the industrial downtown arts district, the small gallery has brought in a diverse selection of artists and their works for rotating shows, including SOMArts Cultural Center's touring exhibit of work by Tony Labat, Dale Hoyt and Guillermo Gómez-Peña who mostly address political and social issues in video and sculptural/conceptual installations.
• 107 East Charleston Boulevard, Suite 120, +1 702 382 3886, lasvegascac.org. Open Tues-Sat noon-5pm and by appointment, first Friday of the month 6pm-10pm, free admission

Trifecta Gallery

Set in the Arts Factory, the Trifecta Gallery has been one of few downtown galleries to survive, financially, in the arts district, maintaining solid exhibits focused on contemporary representational paintings and illustrations. The large three-room space in the old industrial brick building is where locals go to buy and experience works by, in the main, emerging artists, and to enjoy creative art openings such as the pancake breakfast that accompany high-end flapjack sculptures by Todd VonBastiaans and Bryan McCarthy.
• 107 East Charleston Boulevard, +1 702 366 7001, trifectagallery.com. Open Mon-Fri 11am-5pm, Sat-Sun 11am-3pm, and the first Friday of every month 11am-10pm, free admission

Lou Ruvo Center

Frank Gehry's titanium-panelled structures that encase the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health are cultural destinations of their own, but inside the complex in downtown's developing Symphony Park is a rotating art collection of works by some of Gehry's big-name artist friends. Pre-scheduled tours of the building give visitors a chance to see (and buy) works, and among the permanent collection is James Rosenquist's Cervello Spazio Cosmico, a 10ft-by-20ft vertical painting, commissioned by the casino mogul and art collector Steve Wynn
• 888 West Bonneville Avenue, +1 702 263 9797, keepmemoryalive.org

Big Springs Gallery

Inside this 180-acre attraction focused on interactive exhibits about sustainability and the history of the desert environment is The Origen gallery. A quiet, dimly lit, meditative and contemporary space, the gallery features work by mainly local and regional artists – established and emerging – who create pieces influenced by the desert environment and the glitter city plopped into it. Exhibits range from a show of multimedia contemporary works responding to desert colours influenced by intense natural or manmade lighting to fine art black-and-white photography of Cliff Segerblom: modern landscapes of the American West, Hoover Dam and the Las Vegas skyline as it appeared in the 1970s.
• 333. South Valley View Boulevard, +1 702 822 7700,springspreserve.org/attractions/origen. Open daily 10am-6pm, adult ticket $18.95, includes admission to gardens, trails, Desert Living Center and the Origen Experience

Clark County Government Center

In an area where city galleries and museums are scarce, curators often rely on exhibits in public spaces to reach visitors. The circular Clark County Government Center, designed to reflect the desert's natural beauty in form and materials, includes a cavernous rotunda where locals find themselves strolling through large-scale installations by artists who have worked and studied in Las Vegas.Justin Favela's cardboard appropriations of CityCenter artworks may have been quizzical to the incidental observer, but was a favourite among locals amused by the somewhat satirical cardboard recreation of a $40m art collection.
• 500 South Grand Central Parkway +1 702 455 000, clarkcountynv.gov/art-at-government-center. Open Mon-Fri 8am-5pm, free admission

EWESPECIAL

Sunday, September 4, 2016

Vegas Art