vegasmagazine.com 107
Perhaps just as surprising as a medical center stuffed with
important works of art is what's happening 13 miles west.
Stroll south past Red Rock Casino, Resort & Spa toward its
corporate offices and you'll be greeted by Kate Moss—or at
least a sculpture of the supermodel by British artist Marc
Quinn. It's part of his notorious series depicting Moss, her
body whitewashed and pretzeled into tantric poses and her
expression disconcertingly blank. The brothers who own Red
Rock, Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, are passionate collectors of
contemporary art and install select pieces from their holdings,
like Quinn's work, in the resort's public areas. In the lobby
you'll find two pieces by Damien Hirst, arguably the most
famous artist working today. One is a 30 -foot-long spot
painting, among the largest Hirst has ever executed, while the
other is a dove, caught in midf light then encased in formalde-
hyde—simultaneously beautiful and revolting. The Fertitta
brothers even commissioned work from photographer Olivo
Barbieri, known for his aerial landscape photos shot to look
like miniature models. After they saw that he had shot a
sequence of Las Vegas scenes, they asked him to produce a
second series of 20 images focusing exclusively on Red Rock,
and these now dot the property's buildings.
The cracked paint on Quinn's Moss sculpture, however,
hints at why public art projects in Las Vegas are harder to
manage and maintain than in most American cities. "The
elements are so difficult here—the materials and the harshness
of the heat," notes the city's top art consultant, Michele Quinn.
"Wind is a factor, and color doesn't last well." Hopefully, there
are conservators at work on the murals that remain from last
year's Life Is Beautiful festival downtown. A clutch of
would-be Banksys were tapped to create murals to decorate
the neighborhood, some of which can still be seen, largely
along and around Seventh Street. The quality of the work
varies wildly, but an undoubted standout is the huge Pop
Art
–
meets
–
zombie apocalypse piece by British street artist
Dean Stockton, better known as D*Face.
WestWard Ho:
Contemporary
masters at
red roCk
the brothers who
own red rock
are passionate
collectors of
contemporary art.
from left: Peter Alexander's Sugar at the
Cleveland
Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for
Brain Health; two pieces from Damien
Hirst at Red Rock; Siren by Marc Quinn.
