Brett Wesley Gallery
Art
Fake Plastic Trio
Barbie and Ken’s marriage is play-tested in Cruder’s Great Expectations
October 11th, 2012
Ken’s eye is wandering. Barbie suspects that he’s developing a crush on Joe, the guy who cleans the pool at their idyllic, mid-century modern home. But that can’t be the case, can it? Barbie and Ken are made to go together, right? Read more »
First Friday Hot Spots
October 4th, 2012
CASA DON JUAN. Before you venture forth, load up on cheese, beans and tequila at this friendly Mexican restaurant. You’ll likely see everyone you know, doing the exact same thing. (1204 S. Main Street, 384-8070.) Read more »
Art
Layers of Meaning
Emerging artist Giovanni Morales blends stencils, nostalgia and spray paint into more-than-portraits
September 13th, 2012
Layer by layer, the 33-year-old builds vibrant psychological portraits. The polished exterior life that Morales has spray-painted onto the foreground is simplified and idealized, a literal cartoon: Roy Lichtenstein-esque beauties. Read more »
7 Sins, Redrawn
Lowbrow artist Luke Chueh travels down The Primrose Path
February 9th, 2012
Artists Luke Chueh and Juan Muniz are doing just that in The Primrose Path, their joint show at Brett Wesley Gallery, which depicts the seven deadly sins. Taking their cue from a very old saying, the two have created a “path” marked by temptation and overindulgence. In Chueh’s work, this often means moments when luck turns to greed and pride. To illustrate jealousy, for example, the two have swiped each other’s well-known characters, Chueh’s bear and Muniz’s child in a bunny suit. Read more »
Art
Behind the Rabbit Suit
A chat with artist Juan Muniz about his new show, his artistic collaborations and that captivating bunny character
February 9th, 2012
Las Vegas-based Juan Muniz is a creative triple threat. He’s a tattoo artist, animator and fine artist. But you might not know it by just hanging around Las Vegas. Muniz rarely shows his work in local galleries; he enjoys more success selling it in Los Angeles. Despite his California focus, Muniz, 28, still manages to touch every cultural corner of Las Vegas—from the murals on the outside of Artifice to Slidin’ Thru’s T-shirt designs to InsertCoin(s)’ interior art. Vegas Seven sat down with Muniz at the Brett Wesley Gallery, where he shares wall space with renowned L.A. pop surrealist Luke Chueh for a two-man show called The Primrose Path. Read more »
Faces of First Friday
Flesh and Feathers
Kevin Chupik’s diptych series explores visual link between birds and babes
June 30th, 2011
Plumage, Kevin Chupik’s new show at Brett Wesley Gallery, is as dazzling as the feathers of the most exotic avian. It presents split-canvas diptych paintings of birds and women’s body parts, reducing them both to aesthetic objects and demonstrating how far apart and close together we are as species. Read more »
Art
Aesthetic Whore
Post-Pop artist John Bell is an indiscriminate genre-blender
July 22nd, 2010
John Bell’s The Burden of Ambition, which runs through Aug. 3 in the elegant downtown Brett Wesley Gallery, is a visual treat that grows sweeter the longer you examine it. Superficially, the vivid colors and Andy Warholian Pop Art-influenced images are immediately pleasing. However, as you look closely, you notice layers of paint, pencils, pens, silkscreen smudges and marks. Suddenly, a picture develops in the viewer’s mind of an artist toiling on the floor, applying brushes, rollers, nails, screening, pastel sticks, rubber mallets, putty knives and anything else he can find. Evidence of the physical creative process resonates in every brushstroke. Read more »
