Art
Faces of First Friday
The High-Flying Art of Sam Davis
March 3rd, 2011
Lonely robots. Lost spacemen. Lingering rockets. The existential sci-fi crises that Sam Davis’ photographs and sculptures evoke are impossible to forget. This time, however, his new solo exhibit at Trifecta Gallery, False Horizon, focuses on aircraft soaring out of reach, fading into memory, disappearing like ghosts into the ether. Read more »
Art
Full Bloom
Meet painter and professor Mary Warner, the newest recipient of the Governor’s Art Award
March 3rd, 2011
Artist Mary Warner’s tagline is, “I paint what I want to see.” And what the UNLV associate professor wants to see inevitably challenges viewers and pushes limits in unexpected ways. When “beauty” was a dirty word in the contemporary art world, for example, she chose to paint large-scale flowers on black velvet. At the time, it was an act of subversion. Read more »
Art
Eye of the Beholder
February 24th, 2011
When you’ve been tagged by Banksy—the anonymous, subversive British graffiti artist—you don’t break out the scrub brushes and cleaning supplies. You count yourself lucky, because you’ve provided a canvas for one of the most influential artists working today. And you may have been handed a lot of money. That’s what Las Vegas’ Light Group thought when one of their rather generic Los Angeles billboards was hit last week. The ad depicted a woman in a black bra and jeans tossing her tousled hair to-and-fro with mild abandon. The artist added an inebriated mouse bearing a remarkable resemblance to a certain Walt Disney character groping the woman’s breast with his left hand and holding a martini in his right, while a starstruck Minnie-like character looks on. It’s a definite improvement, if this non-art critic does say so himself. Read more »
Art
Natural Born Artist
Alex Krasky is painting his American Dream
February 24th, 2011
Born and raised in Russia, Alex Krasky came to the United States in 2000. He worked as a security officer (a position that led him to Las Vegas) until he was laid off in 2008. With new free time, Krasky realized his hands were built for a paintbrush and not a gun. The self-trained artist bowed to his wife’s urging and signed up for an art class. After a single oil painting lesson, Krasky discovered that the medium came naturally. He painted for two years until he found the perfect muse. Read more »
Art
Abstract Nature
February 24th, 2011
On March 5, the Southern Nevada Museum of Fine Art will present Forms Environmental, a collection of large-scale acrylic paintings by artist Marlene Tseng Yu. Although the museum’s location, on the second level of Neonopolis Complex, may scream “tourist attraction,” this nonprofit organization has been bringing fine art to locals since 2003. Read more »
Art
A New Way to See the City
Vegas Vantage is a curated art event that builds its own synergy
February 17th, 2011
Wendy Kveck is a curator, and curators make choices. When they make inspired choices, they can guide culture forward. So in creating Vantage Vegas, Kveck’s choice of visual artists Ginger Bruner and Lisa Stamanis was only the beginning. Her culture-propelling genius was adding culinary artist Michael Jordan, poet Dayvid Figler and mixologist Michael Shetler to the mix. The theme is Las Vegas, and by choosing this group of artists, Kveck has tapped into an important curatorial practice in contemporary art—one that seeks to merge and blur the lines between art forms, reminding us that all forms are somehow related and we can embrace them together. Read more »
Arts & Entertainment
‘Dine’ Arts
A new local event offers the 4 Elements of Culture—art, music, food and fashion
February 10th, 2011
Douglas Gibbs hopes to start a local phenomenon with 4 Elements of Culture, and judging by the Feb. 7 premiere of the event, that just might happen. Gibbs, who came to Las Vegas via L.A. in 2000 to serve as Ghostbar’s first resident DJ, still spins music around town (including Firefly on Fridays) but also works to connect local artists with venues. So the free event was a little less about pleasing the crowd on a Monday night than creating an atmosphere where artists can showcase their work in a fresh way at a funky venue. Read more »
Faces of First Friday
The Art of DJ Jesse Saunders
February 3rd, 2011
This (and every) First Friday, Las Vegas resident and nightclub music pioneer DJ Jesse Saunders will be spinning at the Electronic Music Café inside the Arts Factory. Saunders is once again unveiling The Art of the DJ, which integrates visual art and electronic music, while live-streaming the results online to, Saunders insists, thousands of listeners around the world. Read more »
Art
Defenders of History
Culture is everywhere in Las Vegas, and the Cultural Site Stewardship Program is working to protect it
January 27th, 2011
For all of the knocks Las Vegas takes for imploding its recent history, the long-term history of the desert endures. But without any neon signage, it can be hard to catch. That’s why we need people such as George Phillips, project manager of the Cultural Site Stewardship Program, to keep track of the Valley’s ancient petroglyphs, pictographs and more. Read more »
Art
Paper, Scissors…
Installation at Winchester Cultural Center uses elementary elements to explore unpredictable nature
January 20th, 2011
When Andreana Donahue moved to Las Vegas in 2003 after graduating with a BFA from the Art Institute of Chicago, she found that she missed seeing green. As a Midwestern transplant, the 29-year-old had grown up surrounded by flowers, trees, grass, water and, of course, ice. She didn’t realize how much a part of her life those pieces of nature were until she settled into the land of brown and gray. With her new show, she creates some of the nature of her childhood through her cut-paper sculptures. Read more »
