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

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."

Scope and Art Asia

As well as the two large fairs, Art Basel Miami Beach and Art Miami, there are a number of smaller fairs and related events. Scope and Art Asia which share a venue, may have less fancy furniture and plush carpeting, but they do have more grass-roots in-your-face art which has particular appeal for the younger generation of art buyers.
I spent quite a bit of time with the work of one of Miami gallery Spinello's featured artists, Sinisa Kukec, who is known for 'transforming trash into treasure'. And I was pleased to find that 'downunder' was represented by Chalk Horse gallery from Sydney, Australia, with a very up-beat and inviting show.
In the 'Special Projects' area was Brooklyn-based 'dirty knitter' Stephanie Hague from Pretty Offensive, creating cheeky new works to add to her clothes lines. The winner of a global artist call by Artists Wanted, another Brooklyn-based artist, Yuhi Hasegawa, was exhibiting his compelling paintings of 'sophisticated barbarians'. And the equally captivating, mischievous red figure is by artist Chen Wenling, showing with Hong Kong gallery Contemporary by Angela Li.
And there was heaps more cool stuff I could post, but sorry, I've run out of energy! If you have any specific questions though, feel free to comment or email me as listed in my profile.

have made it to Art Miami...

Today was somewhat overwhelming - art overload - and I've only been to ONE of the numerous Miami art fairs so far - today was Art Miami and I will add a more comprehensive post when I get a chance. Meanwhile here is an image taken from inside an Hans Kotter artwork Tunnel View featured by gallery Privee Kollektie.

June First Friday

I got to First Friday late this month, but I did make it to a couple of shows. Here is "Don't Kill the TV" by Joel Spencer at 222 Imperial - creative uses for those old tv sets that many people just toss out ... and a slick show by students of the Las Vegas Academy at Blackbird Studios in Commerce St.

two new furry friends

Self portrait with Susie, and Matt with Henry aka Santa's Little Helper.

first friday december

It was a cold night - but that didn't stop the crowds coming out to First Friday. The break dancers are always popular as are the bands playing the Gypsy Den stage. Seen here are Vitamin Overdose from Boulder City. One block further south at 222 Imperial is the new home of Happenstance Studios featuring work in a variety of medium - from paint to installation.

ceramics

Seattle has a strong reputation for ceramics. Top left is work by Kendra Sparks and top right my ceramic tooth by Charles Krafft. Below are photos from the University of Washington Ceramic and Metal Arts campus where we were invited for an informal barbeque.

Frank Gehry in Seattle

The Experience Music Project is not one of Gehry's most popular designs, as detailed on Wikipedia. I did think it was cool though how the monorail train emerged from the building.

RayKo Photo Center

We went to the opening of a juried exhibition of Portraiture at RayKo Photo Center. Taking photos of other people's photos can be a bit weird, especially if I don't know them, so I have to leave the show to your imagination, but I can say that there was a lot of interesting work, and a good crowd enjoying it all. Instead I photographed myself in the ladies room.

last night in Whanganui ... for a while

Enjoyed hanging out with friends around a roaring fire. Thanks Ross and Bobby - an awesome last night in Whanganui. Until next time!

Occupation and Resistance

This photography exhibition Occupation and Resistance: Photos from Palestine is currently touring the country and thanks to Jes-ci Singh Nagra, we got to see it at the Federal Gallery in Whanganui.