Tag Archives: Las Vegas art

Economy-Busting $40,000 Motel Rooms in Las Vegas

A library with dark, wood-paneled walls and a bookcase filled with leather-bound books sits adjacent to a regal living room at Caesars Palace’s Octavius Tower. You’d almost forget you were in Las Vegas if not for the tanning pool patrons outside the window. 

The antique-looking books in the library are seldom used, but they add to the villa’s residential illusion. So does the formal dining room that seats 12 and the media room with movie theater-style seating. 

The centerpiece of each villa is the patio overlooking the pool area. The villas opened last fall, but the new Garden of the Gods pool just began to welcome summer visitors. 

The three massive villas are the newest suites at Caesars Palace. With nearly 10,000 square feet of space, they’re some of the most opulent and largest suites on the Las Vegas Strip. The villas are on the second floor of Caesars’ unfinished Octavius Tower and are part of the resort’s long line of over-the-top suites.

 From the private elevator to the 24-hour butler service, everything about the Octavius villas feels exclusive, including the price tag. The cost for a night is $40,000. The price isn’t recession-friendly, but their patrons aren’t exactly struggling in today’s economy. 

The Octavius villas feel more like miniature mansions than hotel suites. Caesars spent about $15 million on each villa – a total of $45 million – to accomplish that goal. The villas are a collection of eclectic furnishings and faux artifacts, giving the feel of a collector’s well-kept home. 

Wilson & Associates designed each suite with an individual identity — an opulent Grecian palace, an Old World Spanish home and a Parisian luxury apartment.

The design firm is responsible for other suites at Caesars, as well as the fantasy suites at the Palms and the rooms and lobby at The Venetian. 

At 9,930 square feet, the Greek-style villa, which Caesars Palace dubs “Constantine,” is the largest of the three. The four-bedroom villa is far from subtle, but it’s subtly Greek with its fake marble columns and terracotta painted vases. 

After stepping off the private elevator into the marble foyer of the Greek villa, guests will find a formal sitting room, a grand Steinway piano and working fireplace. On the other side of the hall are rooms with a pool table, a restaurant-sized bar and a theater. 

Down a long hallway there are four bedrooms, each the size of a large hotel room, with walk-in closets and their own bathrooms. With custom marble and mosaics, no two bathrooms in the three villas have the same stonework. 

Inside the Greek villa, the master suite’s bathroom is almost as large as the bedroom itself. The bathroom is covered in green and beige marble and features his and her toilets, sinks and vanities. It also has a steam shower, towel-warming racks and flat-screen TVs, among other amenities. A marble-topped tub with gold-plated fixtures is the centerpiece of the lavish master bath. 

As trivial as they seem, the toilets are often the talk of the suites.  They’re controlled by remotes, function as bidets, have heated seats and the lid opens as guests approach. There’s never a reason to touch the toilet seat. 

The villas are filled with quirks galore: mirrors that turn into TVs, pianos that play themselves and chairs that massage to the beat of an iPod’s song. A networked system allows the butler to control every device in the villa. 

Though the three villas have different design schemes, they have similar amenities. The French villa is light and airy. The Spanish villa is designed with distressed wood throughout the main rooms. 

Off each living room is the patio that overlooks the pools. Each patio includes a fire pit, dining table and a private Jacuzzi. 

The view of Flamingo Road is less impressive. Those views are reserved for penthouses and other suites higher than the pool level. The resort’s two 10,000-square-foot penthouses in the Forum Tower are still the largest suites at the resort. Caesars Palace now has 11 villas, 11 penthouses and about 200 suites.

Leave a comment

Filed under art, entertainment, Las Vegas, news, travel, Uncategorized

Bellagio Gallery of Fine Arts in Las Vegas Leases Their Art

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston caused a tizzy of grand proportions six years ago when it leased 21 of its Monets to the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art for an undisclosed price. The art world shrieked with fists of rage while Boston museum director Malcolm Rogers asserted that partnering with a for-profit has its perks: extra money in the public coffers and promotional benefits. 

Five years later the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego leased 17 contemporary works to the Bellagio gallery, giving Las Vegas a look at works by Ellsworth Kelly, Frank Stella, Sol Lewitt, Andy Warhol and others. 

Call it a financial boost for public institutions or an ethical slap in the face. Either way, Las Vegas, one of few cities in the United States without a public art institution, is reaping museum-quality works. 

Now in a one-two punch both institutions are shipping off their works to the Bellagio gallery for Figuratively Speaking: A Survey of the Human Form opening May 1. 

The work spans from the 19th century to present day. Artists include Pierre-August Renoir, Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, Roy Lichtenstein, David Hockney, Judith Shea and Yoshitomo Nara. Word has it that there will also be a Cindy Sherman coming in from the San Diego museum. 

Additionally, the MGM MIRAGE in Las Vegas is throwing in pieces from its own collection, including works by Renoir, Picasso, Edgar Degas and Fernand Leger.

Leave a comment

Filed under art, Las Vegas, news, Uncategorized

Emergency Art Comes to Rescue Las Vegas?

Sixth and Fremont may seem like an unlikely place for Las Vegas artists to congregate, and the El Cortez Casino may seem like an unlikely patron of the arts.  But the city’s growing supply of surplus real estate and downward spiraling financial vectors has opened up a budding entrepreneur opportunity reminiscent of SoHo in New York in the 60’s.   The business venture is called the Emergency Arts Creative Collective, Las Vegas’ latest contribution to the West Coast art scene. 

The El Cortez has a specific business need – increase foot traffic.  And the El Cortez also has an empty building just around the corner.  But opening another mini-mall collection of souvenir shops and yogurt bars won’t be enough to boost the number of Friday night slot players.  

What to do?  Why not take a page from the area South of Houston street in New York where, in the late 60’s, a dying bit of ill conceived government infrastructure that was turned into an art mecca of wide open spaces with great light and cheap rents.  The El Cortez is banking on it,  hoping that people will come to view exhibits and shop and then walk over to the casino for an evening’s entertainment.   

The local people behind the Emergency Arts are gallery owner Jennifer Harrington and her fiance Michael Cornthwaite, owner of the Downtown Cocktail Room.  “For a couple hundred dollars a month they [the artists] can have their own brick and mortar [location],” said Harrington. 

The Emergency Arts already has space rented to several artists, a vintage retailer, a coffee shop and a cafe.  On-site fixtures are being reused and recycled.  X-ray light panels will become part of a photographer’s display.  The large open sections of floor space, once the nurses stations and patient waiting areas, are being turned into general use display centers and communal meeting sights.  

“Part of the charm of this place are all the common areas, so people who rent very small spaces can come out here and use these bigger areas for meetings,” Harrington said. 

There’s a lot happening at Sixth and Fremont in Las Vegas now.  The April opening is just weeks away and more than 15 spots are still available for rent.  Those involved in the Emergency Arts Creative Collective are looking forward to introducing this artist venue to the Las Vegas community.  

Only time will tell if this is the beginning of a Vegas SoHo evolution.

2 Comments

Filed under art, Las Vegas, news, Uncategorized

Las Vegas’ New Art Junkie Mecca?

Believe it or not, Las Vegas does have a Downtown Arts District.  Yesiree, and, not only that, but they are offering up a second showing of cultural artsy-fartsy festivities with the inauguration of Third Friday this Friday, Jan. 15, starting around 6 p.m., running until approximately midnight. 

Following the footsteps of the economically challenged First Friday, now Las Vegans have the added opportunity to browse art galleries, enjoy the bands and mingle amongst fellow art fanatics twice a month — doubling the pleasure and doubling the fun- if not immediate income to producers. 

Taking place on the same Las Vegas streets and benefiting the same cause, Third Friday may be similar to First Friday in many ways, but it’s projected to vary slightly. 

While Cindy Funkhouse, of the Funk House and Fallout galleries, runs the beginning of the month installment, Cion Noble of the Box Office gallery and venue is coordinating this middle-of-the-month run. 

Hans Cewe , one of the owners of the Gypsy Den — a vintage boutique and art gallery which also triples as a music venue — is happy to see the rise of another event to bring people Downtown Las Vegas, hoping thing will expand from there. 

The Gypsy Den, also run by Cewe’s daughter Katie, will be offering up it’s stage to local bands for the night, with the lineup so far including local acts Vitamin Overdose, Close to Modern and The Marquees. 

Third Friday’s main focus is not merely on the patrons it brings Downtown, but also on the various artists involved. 

“It’s basically going to be a networking opportunity for creative people,” says Noble. “The theme is to network… I don’t anticipate vendors and crafts in the first couple of months — I’d like to see it grow into something that’s similar to First Friday eventually.” 

The mix of “creative people” so far set to ring in Third Friday’s opening night at the Box Office includes Cameron Grant, rock and blues bands Black Cherry Blue, Flux and JD Vittles, as well as a comedy improv and musical open mic event hosted by LV Freeze. 

In keeping with the idea of supporting Las Vegas arts, Funkhouse isn’t viewing the second installment as a threat. Instead she’s offering her support, “merely as a participant,” and opening her galleries’ doors — although she says the art on the walls will be the same as what’s viewed the first weekend of the month. “It’s not practical to change our show out every two weeks, that’d be too much work,” explains Funkhouse. 

If Third Friday catches on, perhaps the struggling downtown Las Vegas can look forward to a more regular crowd. Who knows, maybe a little more culture in our Sin City lives, with good eats, is a good thing.

Here’s a map of area, showing central Box Office.

Leave a comment

Filed under art, entertainment, food, Las Vegas, Music, Uncategorized

Learn about Women’s Inner Desires in Las Vegas

Learning about what makes women tick is a tall order, but, perhaps, a visual study of related art might be a plan.  In celebration of Harlequin’s 60th anniversary, the internationally recognized publisher is sponsoring an exhibition of original cover art that will focus not only on the changing shape of desire and fantasy but also on the social meaning and context of these images. THE HEART OF A WOMAN: Harlequin Cover Art 1949—2009 debuts at the Paris Gallerie at the Paris in Las Vegas on Oct. 24, 2009 and will be on display until Jan. 31, 2010. Open to the public free of charge, the gallery is located just outside of the Paris reception area. Hours of operation will be 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Harlequin

By presenting 60 years of cover artwork, the exhibition offers a unique insight into the profound transformations that have occurred in women’s lives over the past six decades.  These changes have been captured and reflected on the front of six decades worth of Harlequin novels and reflect cultural shifts in everything from private desires to the politics of gender. 

Although it is the stories of romance that charm the hearts of so many women, it is the artwork on the book covers that offers the first tantalizing hint of the pleasures that await between the covers. 

The show also spotlights some of the notable names who created these stirring pieces and how the artistic process itself has changed over the decades. 

More than a hundred original works of art will be displayed, from Harlequin’s beginnings in 1949 to the present day. 

Elizabeth Semmelhack is the curator of the exhibition.  She is also the head curator at a major museum in Toronto and, as an independent curator, she has curated exhibitions at the Museum of Sex in New York and the St. Louis Art Museum. She has also been a consultant to the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Semmelhack is the author of “Heights of Fashion.” 

Harlequin Enterprises Limited is the global leader in series romance and one of the world’s leading publishers of books for women, with titles issued worldwide in 28 languages and sold in 114 international markets. The company produces over 110 titles monthly and publishes more than 1,100 authors from around the world. 

Harlequin Enterprises Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation, a broadly based media company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.  Harlequin’s Web site is located at http://www.eHarlequin.com. Harlequin has offices in 19 countries, including offices in Toronto, New York and London. For more information please visit www.eHarlequin.com.

Leave a comment

Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, travel, Uncategorized

Silver Slipper Gets New Las Vegas Home

The famous neon slipper once sat atop of the historic Silver Slipper Gambling Hall, a part of the Last Frontier Village, a replica of an old western town that was once located on Las Vegas Boulevard in Las Vegas.  

Silver Slipper neon signAlthough the Silver Slipper opened in 1950, the sign did not go up until the 1960s. The Last Frontier became the New Frontier, which was eventually absorbed into the Frontier. The slipper was designed by Jack Larsen, Sr., a designer at Young Electric Sign Company (YESCO). The sign is 12 feet high and 17 feet wide. The slipper’s main body contains 900 incandescent light bulbs, with about 80 more in the bow. 

The slipper is part of Las Vegas’ $1.1 million Neon Sign Improvement Project that includes three vintage neon signs placed in the heart of the Cultural Corridor.  It was refurbished and set into place on the median island of Las Vegas Boulevard, located just south of Washington Avenue in what is called the Cultural Corridor of Las Vegas by eight workers from Ultra Signs on Sunday, Sept. 20, 2009 at approximately 11 p.m. after first being refurbished by Rafael Construction. 

The slipper is the last of three Las Vegas vintage signs to be set in place on the corridor, following the Bow & Arrow Motel sign set into place north of Bonanza on Aug. 24 and, a week later, by the installation of Binion’s Horseshoe sign north of Washington Avenue.  New landscaped median islands are also being installed. 

City crews will now work to provide power and conduct a series of tests prior to the signs being officially put into service. 

The cultural corridor is made up of the highest concentration of cultural institutions in Las Vegas and includes Cashman Center, the Las Vegas Library, the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, Lied Discovery Children’s Museum, The Neon Museum, the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park and the Reed Whipple Cultural Center.

Please watch the video of the installation:

http://video214.com/play/0IFyBBBcRJhslXBK3V5KOw/s/dark/

Leave a comment

Filed under art, entertainment, Las Vegas, news, Uncategorized

Andy Warhol is Dead- but His Pop Art Show Makes Las Vegas Debut

For the first time ever, Andy Warhol and Steve Kaufman, his protégé student and assistant, are having a Pop Art Show onAndyWarhol July 4th in Las Vegas.  It’s at the Fashion Show Mall main level, next door to the Bebe store at 3200 Las Vegas Boulevard.

Centaur Art Galleries will host the art work of Andy Warhol, who passed away in 1987, and that of his former assistant, Steve Kaufman, who will be at the exhibition of the “Master” and his “student,” reunited at last and exhibited together, at Centaur Art Galleries’ most ambitious undertaking in more than 20 years.

SteveKaufmanSteve Kaufman has painted numerous famous celebrity paintings, inlcluding Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, President Obama, Elvis, Beatles, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, BB King, Bruce Springsteen, Justin Timberlake, U2, Janet Jackson, Al Pacino, Muhammad Ali, Oscar De La Hoya, Cuban Cigars, Andy Warhol, Picasso, Dali, Van Gogh, Campbell soup, Red Bull, Coca Cola, Liz Taylor, Brad Pitt, Superman, Spiderman, John Gotti Godfather, Scarface, Sopranos, Las Vegas sign, Playboy girl next door, Donald Trump, Michael Jordan, Mickey Mantle, Madonna, and John Travolta.

For further information, please contact 702-737-1234 or log on to: www.centaurgalleries.com/

Leave a comment

Filed under art, entertainment, Las Vegas, news, Uncategorized

Las Vegas First Friday ‘Art Crawl’ Event Takes Nosedive

Selling cultural art opportunities in Las Vegas that are ostensibly designed to benefit residents, and not so much the tourists, is apparently a very difficult sell. 

‘First Friday’ in Las Vegas started in 2002 as an art crawl, or a monthly block party on the first Friday of each month that includes downtown galleries and businesses in the Las Vegas Downtown Arts District.  Art galleries were open.  Musicians would take to the sidewalks next to psychics, poets and other strolling performers.  Crowds grew from a few hundred to as many as 10,000, requiring barricades, police officers and a host of special permits. 

But now all that has changed.  No white familiar tents dotting the landscape.  No stages blasting rock music.  No crowds lining up in large lines at food vendors. 

Funding problems are causing Whirlygig, the nonprofit organization running the event, to scale back considerably.  Founder Cindy Funkhouser has been seeking money, including private donations, but not enough has resulted to keep the festival going. 

Festival costs are in excess of $13,000 a month for barricades, stages, power, lighting and permits.  Las Vegas, which is a large support of the event, contributing $80,000 a year, now concentrates that amount on just six months, when crowds are the largest, rather then the entire year.  It hoped Whirlygig would grow into a self-sustaining organization.  It didn’t. 

Funkhouser says she and her husband, Rick Dominguez, want to get back to presenting the large festival, but says “We’re just kind of winging it.  I’m just kind of at the point where this is what it is.”

Leave a comment

Filed under art, entertainment, food, Las Vegas, Music, news, Performances, travel, Uncategorized

Naked Mona Lisa Secretely Hiding in Las Vegas?

An original Leonardo da Vinci painting of a topless Mona Lisa may be just locked away in Las Vegas, being tracked down by art collectors. MonaLisa

Another Sin City urban legend?  Maybe not.  The wild scenario surfaced yesterday on MSNBC’s Web site about a similar da Vinci artwork now on exhibit in the Tuscan town of Vinci, the birthplace of da Vinci in 1452. 

“The newly revealed painting, hidden for almost a century within the wood wall of a private library, shows a portrait of a half-naked women with clear links to the famous (clothed) Mona Lisa,” according to Discovery News. 

The bombshell came at the end of the article when Alessandro Vezzosi, director of Museo Ideale, the museum that housed the painting, wrote, “Our quest for naked Mona Lisas continues.  We are now on the tracks of another interesting version of Las Vegas.”

Leave a comment

Filed under art, entertainment, Las Vegas, news, travel, Uncategorized

Las Vegas Art Scenesters Buckle Up for Bumpy Roller Coaster Ride

The Las Vegas Art Museum shutdown last month.  The Nevada Ballet has cutback on staff and postponed programs.  The Las Vegas Philharmonic is cutting back and holding on.   art

The Nevada Opera Theatre, though feeling the economic impact,  is cushioned somewhat by their pre-recession budgeting. 

“The effect on us has not been as traumatic as on the philharmonic and the ballet because of their much larger agenda and audience participation,” said founder and director Eileen Hayes, whose theatre actually has seen a budget increase from about $225,000 to $300,000. 

“Yes, contributions have been down, especially between the last two years and this year, but we’ve been in the mode of reducing our once big deficit dramatically over the last few years. And our audience attendance is really starting to rebound.” 

Beyond those factors, the company has not tied itself to a set season of performances and the attendant costs. When it does perform, it is at smaller, less expensive venues. Though for the past two years the company has not staged its usual production at UNLV’s large Artemus Ham Hall, Hayes expects that to resume. Tickets have been kept less than $50, and the group has kept close tabs on production budgets. 

“We’re just being very careful what we do,” Hayes said. “We have cut back on guest performers over the last several years. We used to bring in entire sets and costumes, but now we’ve gotten frugal and rent pieces locally and from Southern California. We used to rent entire sets from New York, but those days are gone.” 

At Opera Las Vegas, finances are actually on the upswing. Citing “prudent and creative fundraising,” Hal West, vice president of marketing and public relations, said his company is aiming for a 50 percent budgetary hike, increasing program investments from $50,000 to $75,000. Containing expenditures by staging only two productions this year, they briefly considered doubling the top $40 ticket price but nixed that notion. 

Similarly, the 32-year-old Las Vegas Little Theatre, Las Vegas’ oldest community theater, is functioning fairly well on a nearly $200,000 budget, maintaining six productions in the main stage theater and three in the smaller Black Box. 

“We’re not rolling in money, but we’re no worse than in previous years, paying our rent and electric bills,” said board President Walter Niejadlik, noting that keeping expectations reasonable and avoiding grandiose goals helps steady the balance sheet. “We’re not doing huge productions costing $20,000 a pop that never have a shot at making money back. It’s the undoing of a lot of arts organizations in this town. Everyone’s going to be the next greatest thing, doing art for art’s sake, but with no business sense.” 

Theater audiences traditionally skew older than for other art forms — on average, 65 to 70 years old, Niejadlik said — with more discretionary income to spend on the arts. But that demographic reality has a sad side: the steady attrition of season subscribers. Las Vegas Little Theatre loses about 70 subscribers a year. 

“Without being terribly morbid, they’re dying,” Niejadlik said. “We get a list of subscribers who have passed away. Our big focus is on getting younger folks into the theater.”

Leave a comment

Filed under art, entertainment, Las Vegas, news, Performances, travel, Uncategorized

Las Vegas Performing Arts Center Plans for Groundbreaking

All is not gloom and doom when it comes to Las Vegas art funding in our recession.  The Smith Center for the lasvegasperformingartsPerforming Arts could break ground in as little as two months, thanks to the City of Las Vegas for being in the midst of finalizing a financing package that supports the construction and takes into account the impact of the economic downturn. 

The total $485 million center is being financed by many seed revenue sources including $105 million in Las Vegas bonds that are being backed by a 2 percent tax on rental cars, which are planned to be sold by the end of this month; $85 million in bonds backed by revenues from the Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency (not operating funds); and $150 million or more from the private Donald W. Reynolds Foundation.  

The City of Las Vegas total financial obligation for the center funding is $170 million.  

The Smith Center for the Performing Arts will be the anchor tenant of the 61-acre Union Park development in downtown Las Vegas that is touted to be the “new Las Vegas,” with the center containing a 2,050-seat main theater as well as smaller performance spaces and classrooms, a park and outdoor theater.  It will be the home of the Las Vegas Philharmonic and the Nevada Ballet. 

Construction costs make up $245 million of the total $485 million estimated cost, with the rest of the funding pegged for an operation endowment and furniture, fixtures and equipment. 

Construction is expected to generate 1,000 Las Vegas jobs over two years. 

“We are stimulating the economy,” said Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman.  “We’re stimulating our intellect in the community.”

1 Comment

Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, Performances, travel, Uncategorized

Naomi Arin Contemporary Art Gallery in Las Vegas Presents “Yo Mama: Sheila Pepe and Friends”

On the first Friday of each month, the Las Vegas downtown art district hosts a celebration of local Las Vegas artists called First Friday.  As the past board vice-president for First Fridays, Naomi Arin continues to be an active leader in the development of the Las Vegas downtown art community.  Her gallery, Naomi Arin Contemporary Art, formerly known as Dust Gallery, is located at 900 S. Las Vegas Blvd, Suite 120B.  Past exhibits have included Israeli Art Now which featured works by Israel’s top contemporary artists,  Adi Nes and Ori Gersht, and ‘MARKED’ with paintings by Chad Brown and Etsuko Ichikawa. 

Through March 29, from Tuesday through Saturday from Noon until 5 p.m., the Naomi Arin Contemporary Art sheilapepeGallery will present “Yo Mama: Sheila Pepe and Friends,” an exhibition of work by artist Sheila Pepe.  

Knitters from New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas have knitted individual pieces expressing their own matriarchal background.  The artist, Pepe, gave the participants a formula to instruct them how to incorporate references to their mothers, grandmothers, and other maternal relatives into the knitted work. The pieces are being joined together into one installation at the Naomi Arin gallery, 702-880-3878

Leave a comment

Filed under art, Las Vegas, news, travel