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.
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/692319
SplaSh and Burn Las Vegas Looks to burning man for some of its most compeLLing pubLic art pieces. by tess eyrich PhotograPhy courtesy of MgM resorts InternatIonal/Barry toranto (Bliss Dance); las Vegas VIP card (Mantis); MadeleIne cohen (life cuBe) Life Cube gives artists the chance to put their mark on the structure before it is ceremoniously burned down (above right) to reflect the idea that nothing is permanent—including life itself. As MGM Resorts International put the finishing touches on its long-awaited Park last year, the company turned to an unlikely source—the northern Nevada-based arts festival Burning Man—for the space's pièce de résistance, a 40-foot-tall steel sculpture of a nude woman in motion. "MGM was looking for a piece of art that was unusual and riveting," says Marco Cochrane, the artist behind Bliss Dance, the Park's unofficial anchor (thepark vegas.com). "Bliss Dance 's first placement was in the desert at Burning Man in 2010, and now she's back in the desert in Vegas." Relocating the sculpture to Las Vegas from its temporary home on San Francisco's Treasure Island, where it had stood since 2011, is a more natural fit for Cochrane's creation than most people realize. "Bliss Dance isn't just art for art's sake—it's intended to convey a social message," the artist explains. "MGM really cared about the message of the sculpture, which is intended to humanize women." Of course, Bliss Dance isn't the first public art piece Vegas has acquired from Burning Man. Perhaps the most familiar transplant is former aerospace engineer Kirk Jellum's metal praying mantis, which stands sentry outside Downtown Container Park (downtown containerpark.com). Debuted at the festival in 2010, the 40-foot-long creature—Jellum's first art project—was purchased by SPACE art 114 vegasmagazine.com