Inside Wynn Las Vegas

One of the most visually stunning casinos on the Las Vegas Strip is the 2,716-room Wynn Las Vegas, opened in 2005. The lead designer was Nevada native Roger Thomas and the signature red carpet was designed by French interior decorator Jacques Garcia.

In 2013, Wynn Las Vegas commissioned event designer Preston Bailey to create two major floral installations for the atrium - a hot air balloon and a spinning carousel. The core construction is
fiber-reinforced plastic adorned by more than 110,000 flowers.

Contemporary art from the Wynn Collection can be found throughout the casino including Jeff Koons' mirror-polished stainless steel sculptures "Tulips" and "Popeye".

Large glowing parasols suspended above the hotel lobby

Rotating Carousel floral installation by Preston Bailey

Hot Air Balloon floral sinstallation by Preston Bailey

Floral balls suspended in the atrium

"Tulips" by Jeff Koons

Above the pool area

Topiary gardens leading to pool area

An Artist Residency Experience at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas

-->

Completing an artist residency in a large resort on the Las Vegas Strip has definitely been one of the most interesting art experiences to date. The P3Studio residency is a partnership between The Cosmopolitan of LasVegas and Art Production Fund in New York City. The residency program is designed to provide guests with an interactive art experience, so there is always a participatory element to each project and artists change monthly.

When I open the studio doors to visitors for the first time on Wednesday, December 11, I am not sure exactly what to expect. I have produced two previous audience-participation collage projects – the first took place over a few hours at the London Biennale in Nevada satellite project and the second over a few days at the Life is Beautiful Festival. However, the House of Paper Birds project at The Cosmopolitan spans a few weeks, and at the end of the residency period, I estimate that visitors will have completed two collage panels inspired by the fruit of the Joshua Tree and a large reverse-glass window collage where bird-women reign over a desert landscape. I provide a starting point for each of the works, then with a little guidance, the visitors do the rest.

I hope that during the process, visitors will also enjoy the opportunity to browse a range of fashion, lifestyle and art magazines in the adjoining Reading Room. This area is inspired by the MOCA Grand Avenue Reading Room in Los Angeles and is designed for me by Patina Décor. I also envision conversations taking place around the large studio table amongst friends old and new, as visitors source collage material from the stacks of magazines.

As it happens, my hopes for cultural interchange are exceeded. The P3Studio visitors are of all ages and from all over the states, with many from other countries also. Christmas is fun. I Skype with family in New Zealand on our Christmas Eve, and spend Christmas Day in the studio meeting many family groups who are enjoying the bright lights and festive events on the Strip. There are little toddlers who paste paper strips onto the window collage and charm me by blowing me kisses. There are teenagers who talk about their love of art and leave me little drawings. Some people stay for a few minutes, some stay for an hour or more. And at the end of the residency, the collaborative collage works seem to almost vibrate with the convergence of their collective energy.

I am joined in the weekends by invited special guests who bring elements of the House of Paper Birds to life; artist Shelbi Schroeder appears as an aloof black swan watching us watching her, burlesque entertainer Lou Lou Roxy demonstrates the skilled techniques of the fan dance, fashion designer Mina Kahn exemplifies the exotic in her feathered creations on models Kathy C Liu and Tarah Una Robinson, and entertainer/fashionista Devi Amuro stages an intergalactic fashion invasion of the Reading Room with models Starza and Lashonza Ferguson.

In the same way that collage combines disparate elements and creates something fresh, the residency has brought together my favorite aspects of Las Vegas – fashion, flamboyance, performance and the dramatic desert environment – and created a singular experience within the wider cultural experience of The Cosmopolitan itself. In addition to the residency program, The Cosmopolitan curates the public art program Pause, also in partnership with Art Production Fund, where moving image works by artists such as Tracey Emin, TJ Wilcox and Laurie Simmons periodically take over the large-scale LED signs. The Cosmopolitan brings a wealth of contemporary visual art to Las Vegas, while incorporating local artists into the mix and offering visitors the opportunity to participate in building this creative culture. The positive energy I experienced in this process is something that will always stay with me.

 

Las Vegas Lights Up Red for World AIDS Day

Las Vegas' famous neon lights turned red on World AIDS Day to show support in the fight against HIV/AIDS and honor those who have passed away. In a morning ceremony, Aid for AIDS of Nevada (AFAN) Executive Director Antioco Carrillo along with Clark County Commissioners Steve Sisolak and Chris Giunchigliani helped turn the lights on the world-famous "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign red while red ribbons were passed to the crowd before a moment of silence.

Sisolak said, "It's great to see our community come together and show those living with HIV and AIDS that we stand with them and they are not alone."

Carrillo added, "This tells the entire community and the world that we are working together to create awareness and eradicate HIV and AIDS."

At 8 p.m., several casinos and landmarks on the Strip, downtown and across the city displayed red lights or a World AIDS Day image on their marquees, including the High Roller, Caesars Palace, Keep Memory Alive Event Center, Station Casinos, The Stratosphere, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, SLS Las Vegas, Las Vegas City Hall, Cosmopolitan Las Vegas and the Miracle Mile Shops.

Below is an image by Antioco Carrillo of the High Roller glowing red in support.

Visual Art Is Vibrant at Life Is Beautiful Festival 2014

"Love is Power. Power is Life. Life is Beautiful." The words are scrawled in red, encircling a cut out of a large, purple cactus flower. Pasted to the wall, the flower is surrounded by hundreds of other natural desert elements, with hand-written messages. For this year's Life is Beautiful festival, my proposal submitted to curator Patrick Duffy envisioned a collage installation created by the festival visitors themselves, slowly growing over the three days of the festival.
Attendance numbers were up for Las Vegas' second Life is Beautiful festival held during the last of the warm weather in late October. The focus on visual arts was again strong, with the exhibition venue moving to the previously shuttered Western Hotel, sharing space with the guest speakers in the Learning component. The Street Art Program, again curated by Charlotte Dutoit, brought new works to buildings in downtown Las Vegas. With many mural works from the first festival in 2013 still in existence, the face of downtown has changed dramatically.
I've put together a slideshow with Huffington Post, offering a tour of both temporary and permanent visual art features of the 2014 festival. I can't promise that it's fully comprehensive, but it gives a taste of the visual smörgåsbord available to festival-goers taking time out from the multitude of aural offerings. The first images were taken the evening before the festival opened, when some of the visiting street artists were putting the finishing touches on their works. For further information on artists, see the Life is Beautiful line-up.
The best festivals are uplifting, creating a powerful positive energy that lives on after the festival is over. In the downtown center of a city where stark reminders of the hard-hitting recent recession are still evident, the Life is Beautiful festival achieved that for me. As one of my collage participants wrote, quoting the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, "Destruction leads to a very rough road but it also breeds creation."

The Traveling Miracle Show @ Momas N Dadas

There was a great response to The Traveling Miracle Show at Momas N Dadas New Genres Project House in the Las Vegas Arts District. The First Friday festival brought in an audience who enjoyed the installations, unicorn rides and a Sin Eating feast. Seen here is Nathan Coté's, 'Self Watering Suspended Lawn' and Brent Holmes' 'Sin Eater' also featuring Yasmina Chavez and Ashanti McGee. DJ Cyril Noir and burlesque performer Ella Mental rounded off the evening in style. For further coverage, see the article and footage by Sonya Padgett and Chase Stevens of the Las Vegas Review Journal.