106 vegasmagazine.com
Take the UNLV campus. Bavington studied there, an acolyte
of longtime professor Dave Hickey. The swaggering Hickey, a
brilliant but prickly man, is renowned for rebelling against the
art world's pseudo-intellectualism and for championing the
power and value of beauty. It's the Marilyn Monroe versus
Madeleine Albright position: Art that's pretty, Hickey argues
with gusto, is just as important as art that's smart. The critic's
legacy, other than luring creatives like Bavington to study,
live, and work here, is the plethora of art spaces on UNLV's
campus. The premier one is the Marjorie Barrick Museum,
tucked away in one of the university's oldest buildings. The
site was originally a gymnasium but was repurposed for
contemporary art two years ago, after a stint displaying
objects of natural history. It's now a 6,000 -square-foot art
museum that hosts rotating exhibitions. Another UNLV arts
organization jostles with the Barrick for attention, however.
Twenty-five years ago, some enthusiastic students started the
Contemporary Arts Center, a space intended to showcase
edgier, more experimental work by local artists. It's now
staging pop-up events in situ to help raise funds for a new
permanent home. Last year a group show, "Exquisite Corpse,"
was dedicated to works on paper.
But arguably the city's most unexpected site for top-tier
contemporary art is a medical facility: the Cleveland Clinic
Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. The twisted silver façade,
designed by Frank Gehry, shades an outdoor café and garden
where LA-based artist Peter Alexander's sculpture
Sugar—
s
h
a
rds
of glass piled high like a rock candy pyramid—is
permanently installed. More intriguing, inside the hospital
you'll find a bona fide art gallery. The pieces on the wall here
are all for sale and help fund the work of this Cleveland Clinic
subsidiary, with the money split equally between the artist and
the hospital. The major difference between this and most such
philanthropic galleries is the caliber of the work—by the likes
of Pop Art icon James Rosenquist and ceramicist and surf
culture chronicler Ken Price.
Hidden
Treasures
off THe sTrip
