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Vegas - 2015 - Issue 4 - Summer - Art of the City - J.K. Russ

Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.

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photography by checko salgado (kveck); sam morris/las vegas sun (double negative) opposite page: artist rendering courtesy of ugo rondinone (Seven Magic MountainS); photography courtesy of triple aught foundation (heizer) Much like Vegas itself, monumental land art is rising from the Nevada desert—and art-world insiders predict that the city will increasingly attract lovers of earthwork. Picture the dusty red desert just south of Las Vegas along Interstate 15. Now imagine seven massive stone columns, 32 feet high, each consisting of car-size chunks of locally quarried rock piled atop one another and painted in almost garish colors—acid yellow or lime green, pulsing queasily against the desert's neutral hues. This monolithic work, the brainchild of Swiss-born artist and museum darling Ugo Rondinone, will likely materialize later this year and remain in its desert setting for two years, overseen by the Nevada Museum of Art and the Art Production Fund, a nonprofit group that also manages the art programs at Cosmopolitan. Called Seven Magic Mountains, Rondinone's pillars will be hard to miss east of Bakersfield, their neon-bright colors making them visible even at night. "For the first time, this is a public artwork that the entire community can get behind and excited about—it's not a political piece," says David Walker, executive director and CEO of the Nevada Museum of Art, who helped raise the estimated $3.5 million cost of the piece (visiting it, of course, will be free). "It's about being reminded of the power of contemporary art." The choice of location, near Jean Dry Lake Bed, was deliberate, a nod to past works there by Jean Tinguely and Michael Heizer, renowned land artists who create art from the earth around us. "This is a full-scale desert experience that brings the desert right into the piece," says local art consultant Michele Quinn, who has long been involved with the project. "It's intended not to interfere with the vastness of the landscape." Unlike Heizer's and Tinguely's works, though, vegas, art city the city is awash with impressive, homegrown art institutions. Barrick museum Squirreled away in one of the old- est buildings on UNLV's campus, the 6,000-square-foot Barrick Museum presents an ever-changing roster of exhibitions, focusing on modern and contemporary works, as well as its own collection of pre-Columbian objects. This summer's show—"Recent Acquisitions," featuring pieces by artists with ties to Vegas, like Brian Porray, Sush Machida, and Wendy Kveck, whose Sister is shown above—will be followed by an exhibit of work from the collection of Dorothy and Herbert Vogel, the New York postal clerk and librarian who spent every spare penny on early art by the likes of superstar Richard Tuttle. 4505 S. Maryland Pkwy.,702-895-3381; unlv.edu/barrickmuseum citycenter arts complex Dotting the 67-acre CityCenter lot is a passel of large-scale, site-specific works commissioned from blue-chip art- ists. Standouts include Silver River, by Vietnam Veterans Memorial artist Maya Lin, a swirling evocation of the Colorado River constructed from reclaimed silver and perched high above the reception desk at Aria, and Big Edge (shown opposite), featuring aluminum replicas of rowboats and canoes unearthed by artist Nancy Rubins, piled in a cat's cradle–like structure over Vdara's main drive. citycenter.com dry wall the stark nevada desert draws some of the world's most renowned land artists. Michael Heizer's Double Negative has resided in the Nevada desert for more than four decades. 84  vegasmagazine.com

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