CACBlog

2011-10-27T17:41:00.001-07:00

2011-10-27T17:40:00.000-07:00

Artist Talk Oct 5th 2011

2011-10-16T09:37:00.000-07:00

Love Letter To The Arts Factory

2011-09-16T10:20:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to thank you for your presence in Las Vegas and to affirm that I believe your gallery is an asset to the community. I brought my two children in for a self-guided tour yesterday, and we left most impressed. My eight-year-old daughter, whom I am homeschooling, enjoyed the exhibits and also took great pleasure in speaking with various people in the building. The lessons learned were many, but the discussion that followed was the greatest teacher: that these people she just met, these artists, may or may not be able to make a living at their art, and that has no bearing on the end result. Artists do art out of pure love, and if you have it in you, you need to feed it, and if you don't, part of you dies. The smell of paint, the din of music played and artists working, all of this was entirely formative. Furthermore, the John Wayne Gacy exhibit stunned me into silence. I translated his story posted at the beginning of the exhibit for my daughter so she understood who
Gacy was, but the effect on me was indescribable. I stood and pondered how a man convicted of such heinous crimes could produce work that is so soft, so human, perhaps even childlike in its subject matter and its execution. The lesson for me was again, that I am not capable of judging people for the face that I see, and I was reminded again that the artist within reflects much of that which we cannot see from the outside. Again, I thank you.
Las Vegas Parton

Gacy Show at CAC Gallery

2011-09-01T10:41:00.000-07:00

Yes, the CAC is leasing the Gallery space back to Myles management for the exhibiting of the Gacy works. Yes, the CAC will be accepting proceeds as a donation if there are any. The Board decided to go forward with this PRIMARILY because we believe the show will raise important questions and discussions about the nature of art, AND IT HAS. AND IT WILL CONTINUE TO. This is part of our mission, to educate the public and create discussion about art. This has happened as evidenced here in this discussion and in many others.

Here's the "GOOD" that is coming out of CAC leasing the space for the exhibition and accepting part of the proceeds from the sale of Gacys paintings:simply put, it will help us pay our bills....the CAC is a non profit, run primarily by volunteers, every month we are struggling to keep our doors open and bills paid. Our board members and volunteers spend many hours every week working for FREE to help keep CAC open. If anyone out there would like to raise some funds on an ongoing basis for CAC, please step forward, we need your help, not just now but ongoing.

No non profit is in a position to refuse funds, ever, but especially in these economic times. If some non profit is going to receive the proceeds, why shouldn't it be CAC...we're the ones taking the heat for allowing the works to be displayed in our space.

Anne Mulford CAC Board President

Contemporary Arts Center of Las Vegas Presents

2011-08-02T09:06:00.000-07:00

Justin Favela - Congratulations!

2011-07-29T13:23:00.000-07:00

2011-07-01T13:54:00.000-07:00

Radio Xan

The Voice of the Las Vegas Arts Community - Hosted by Alexandra Charbogné

Click on the link below to listen to a great interview with Philip Denker, Joshua Levin and Matthew Couper

Plus

Alexandra Epstein, visiting with us at the CAC gallery

Executive Manager of the oldest, continually operating hotel/casino in Las Vegas, the El Cortez

Online Radio Las Vegas

Artist's Statements

2011-05-27T12:10:00.000-07:00

CAC JURIED SHOW WINNERS & ARTIST’S STATEMENTS

Best of Show
Philip Denker - “X”, pen & pencil on paper & matboard (24”x31”)
Artist Statement: My recent work is an attempt to resolve fundamental questions of design, form and function, while staying within subjective parameters that I set for myself. My investigation process is focused around the idea of creating a stylized representation of organic structures through patterns and configurations. The geometric patterns are not necessarily a specific mathematical formula, they evolve throughout each piece, and each piece becomes a springboard for the next.

1st Prize
Kim Fink - “The Weight Of”, digital serigraph (30”x120”x8”)
Artist Statement: Since arriving in the remote Northern Plains ten years ago, I learned to embrace the remoteness of the Dakotas, consciously focusing on the idea of conjoining an interpretation of my external world with that of my local experiences – reflecting place and emphasizing recording my personal life experiences. It is my goal to create a fusion of cultural realities that explore objective verses subjective visions and develop a synthesis between image and meaning.

2nd Prize
Matthew Couper - “Trickle Down Theory”, oil on canvas (58”x46”)
Artist Statement: Matthew Couper was born in New Zealand and recently immigrated to the USA, his practice over the past decade has appropriated western art history periods such as the Trecento, Quattrocento, and the Baroque. Couper uses the established narrative traditions of Spanish Colonial / Mexican retablos and exvotos to discuss the space between myth, religion and art politics. He recently stated that “like any good Johnny Cash, Nick Cave or Pixies song, you’ve got to have sex, death and religion fueling the fire” – ShareMag, Portugal (Spring Edition, 2011)

3rd Prize
Suzan Shutan - “Bird Myth”, wire & pom-poms (72”x64”x17”)
Artist Statement: I use found and manufactured materials because they can comment upon accumulation of cultural debris and become their own subjective universes as they build form into patterns of communicative behavior of life processes. When introduced to Algorithms, I began formulating my own systems of mapping, both fictitious and natural, using movement (traveling spores, pheromones, birds, ants, commuters, migration and habitation). My structures multiply into sweeping patterns that spatially interact with architecture and often invite touch to activate the work. I use color as an emptive quality, the joie de vive of life. It also represents my growing up in a household where lime green and carrot orange were our pulsating carpet colors.

Honorable Mention
Christine Pinney Karkow - “Landscape 10 (night)”, ultrachrome inkjet print, 30”x45”
Artist Statement: These images depict the ubiquitous landscapes of everywhere and at the same time of nowhere. The subjects are buildings and spaces that are unremarkable, perhaps not even worthy of being captured in an image. But maybe they are. Maybe in the midst of these mass produced, bland, repetitive spaces that have been created for the generation of profit there can still be some type of poetic essence, there may still be a unique narrative that could take place. But that is an open question and one that the production of these images is still searching to answer.

Honorable Mention
Joshua Levin, Ph.D. - “Budache”, mixed media assemblage, (35”x19”x19”)
Artist Statement: I conduct ritualized visual experiments that transform mundane objects and images of everyday life into portals of sacred awareness and insight. The recycled bits of cultural refuse that are woven throughout my work represent a direct encounter with the excesses of modern living. They are physical expressions of our anxieties, specifically consumption as a response to insecurity and desire. Paradoxically, this cultural debris also contains symbolic reference to our values and our diversity, as well as the stories we tell about who we are and why we are here. With each experiment, I engage these themes and contradictions, fashioning trash into visionary objects that synthesize, amuse, inspire, provoke and renew

Best of Show - 22nd Annual Juried Show - May 5th - June 18th

2011-05-06T07:17:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Philip Denker!

The CAC 22nd Annual Juried Show

2011-05-04T08:09:00.000-07:00

Opening Reception Thursday May 5th 6 pm

First Friday May 6th 6 pm

May 5th - June 18th

Life Drawing Workshop

2011-04-29T10:14:00.000-07:00

As part of the Contemporary Arts Center mission statement “Striving to build, educate, and sustain audiences for contemporary art” the CAC offers a life drawing workshop.

The CAC Education Program facilitates weekly art classes for adults with the life drawing workshops.

No instruction is given but we offer the opportunity to develop and improve rendering skills.

Stewart Freshwater has facilitated the life drawing workshops at the Contemporary Arts Center of Las Vegas, almost the entire 22 years the CAC has been in existence.

Stewart got his BFA from University of Nevada LV in 1975 and was employed as an illustrator in Las Vegas from 1976 to 2010 and has continue his own professional Fine Art Design business since 1980

The life drawing workshop was started by others but when Stewart found out about it he quickly joined and has continued his involvement to this day. When he was at the university studying art he first began drawing models. He always wanted to continue this and the CAC life drawing workshop offered that opportunity.

According to Stewart “The body is used in the traditional art schools as a tool to teach artist to draw what they see, get the proportions correctly on the page. Once you can draw the body it seems you are able to draw most anything. You begin developing your perception of scene and understanding what you see and put it on the paper.”

Word of mouth has kept the workshop going for 20 years. The group is a diverse gathering of men and women ranging from the 20's to the 70's. Stewart hopes the life drawing workshop continues forever.

“In the life drawing workshop artists are able to continue working on and maintaining their skills in seeing how light goes across a form, how that light defines the form. Not only that direct light but reflective light and how it bounces off the surfaces.”

“For the student its an opportunity to work on the right side of the brain. Most of the time people don't use the right side of the brain. The left side of the brain rules because it is more structured. The left side tells you what you think you should be seeing, but by training the right side of the brain to see the details beyond the stick figure and oblong shaped eggs you become an artist.” said Stewart.

Some of Stewart's art work is on display at the Rhythm Repetion Movement exhibit through May 22^nd at the Historic Fifth Street School in downtown Las Vegas.

For more information go to http://www.lasvegascac.org/programs/index.html

'Arts education stimulates their minds'

2011-04-21T20:38:00.000-07:00

What else is damaged when schools have to cut cultural programs?

When trumpeter Dallin Johnson took to the field at Arbor View High School last week to perform a stirring "Danny Boy" -- a traditional Irish song usually played to commemmorate a death -- what had begun as a rally for arts education began to feel more like a wake. The gathering was intended to motivate students and parents to contact lawmakers about how cuts in the state budget will decimate arts education in Las Vegas schools. Dozens of music, theater and arts programs (some estimates put the tally at more than 50) are imperiled, and with them the engagement, and sometimes futures, of thousands of students.

"I've been involved in several programs that allowed me to be accepted to the University of Utah. If it wasn't for [the arts] ... I never would have had this opportunity," says Johnson, an Arbor View senior headed for Utah on a music scholarship.

Official estimates say school district leaders could be forced to trim more than $400 million, with a good portion coming from school arts programs, by the time the Legislature wraps up its session in early June. More than arts progams are on the chopping block, of course. In a message on Basic High School's website, Principal David Bechtel notes the impending loss of three English teachers, four instructors of math or science, some Advanced Placement classes and other specialized offerings. Other schools are planning for similar cuts.

But the cuts in arts education in particular could spell trouble for the city's cultural life, at a time when it's seeing some significant traction but is still in many ways in a fragile state. Myron Martin, president of the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, cites studies by The Wallace Foundation "showing that arts participation is linked to learning about the arts at an early age (K-12)." A Rand Corp. report concluded that people who experience and are educated about the arts at an early age are likely to enjoy them over the course of their lives. So cuts in school arts programs have implications both for the future pool of creative artists in Las Vegas, and for educated, engaged audiences. "I worry that further cuts could deprive an entire generation of people the opportunity to learn about and be inspired by the arts," Martin says.

"I think that Las Vegas is just beginning to create a culturally oriented population," says Anne Mulford, president of the board of directors of the Contemporary Arts Center. "We're relatively young in terms of our mentality of ourselves as a city, and it takes a mature population to support the arts. If we don't create individuals who appreciate a good play or a painting ... we're hindering our growth as a city."

For those on Southern Nevada's cultural front lines, the insistence of state leaders to save money by forcing cuts to public-school music and theater programs is an economic mistake.

"If we're going to be at the forefront, economically or otherwise, we need to be using arts education to stimulate the creative parts of the brain in students," says Kelly Roth, head of the dance program at the College of Southern Nevada. "Students who are exposed to the arts might not go into it as a career, but arts education stimulates their minds and, in many cases, keeps them in school." The arts certainly played a big part in Roth's education. A high-school dropout, Roth says he only returned to education and earned advanced arts degrees because of his affinity -- and affiliation -- with the arts. Martin tells a similar story, about a fourth-grade field trip: "I got goosebumps going to the performing arts center. This enthusiasm led me to the arts in junior high and high school, and eventually to my much-loved career." John Beane, of Insurgo Theatre, says flatly, "I would not now be doing what I do if Ms. Jackson at Eldorado High School hadn't played Zeffirelli's Hamlet for us in ninth grade."

Already this fiscal year, the school district has been forced to cut more than four dozen arts instructor positions.

Lynne Ricci, choir director at Basic High School, says the one thing that those making further cuts to public-school arts programs don't understand is that the arts stimulate every area of students' minds.

"When it comes to programs like, say, music, they are critical to helping students blossom. What [state lawmakers] don't seem to understand is music is actually every subject: It's math, it's humanities ... it's even physical education as the students learn voice control," she says. (Also, in some cases, a marching-band class counts as a P.E. credit.)

It's not just students and teachers who are concerned. Increasingly, a number of local business owners are ponying up as much cash as they can to help save arts education.

"We've been watching the news, and I have three children in Henderson schools. I've been concerned about state cuts and have felt a little helpless, but I wanted to help make a difference," says Jeff Victor, president of the Fremont Street Experience. To that end, Victor says, the Flightlinez aerial ride on Fremont -- which allows people to slide on cables through the historic gambling district -- will donate a days' proceeds to local arts programs in local schools this month.

It's the least he could do, says Victor. "I've been concerned about the state of the school system because of the budget cuts, and I felt a little helpless. I'm concerned that [in a budget crisis] the arts are the first thing to go."

Victor, who predicts the daylong benefit this month could generate as much as $17,000 for local school arts' education programs, says he believes local businesses like his will have to contribute as much as they can to help offset any state cuts.

"The truth is, money for these programs is not gonna come from the tax base, so they have to come from efforts like this. I'm sure other businesses will do something similar," he says.

That's certainly the hope of local cultural figures, although some of them expressed outrage that policy-makers would use cultural programs to balance the state budget.

"My biggest question for lawmakers is, how can they do this to our kids," says Jennifer Kleven, chair of the exhibition committee for the Contemporary Arts Center. "How can lawmakers make these cuts if it's going to come right back to them if they themselves have children in public schools?"

by JASON WHITED // jwhited@lvcitylife.com

Our History

2011-04-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

CAC’s ‘Blur’ will make you rub your eyes

2011-03-29T08:28:00.000-07:00

The Contemporary Arts Center brings in some heavy hitters for its new multimedia exhibit, It’s all a Blur, and you’re really going to want to see this one. You might even want to hug the CAC folks afterward (or become a member), because this is contemporary art at its mind-bendingest.
The SOMArts Cultural Center’s touring exhibit, curated by Justin Hoover, features works by influential artists Tony Labat, Dale Hoyt and Guillermo Gómez-Peña that will rattle your brain, make you laugh, broaden your perspective and invite you to ruminate on today’s American Dream. Political and social issues are at the core, mostly bundled in approachable pieces. Hoyt’s kitty drawings and hilarious, disturbing and touching video shorts will either have you running or sticking around for more.

Labat’s readymades include a Weber grill of idolatry proportions, delivered in original packaging and attached to 6-foot legs, where it’s literally and figuratively out of reach. Movie-style target-practice posters of a terrorist taking over a plane come with gun holes, created when Labat was a visiting artist at UNLV. They cover a gallery wall and the windows facing Charleston Boulevard. Two of his video installations are also on display.
Clear some time to sit through Gómez-Peña’s The Great Mojado Invasion, Part 2 (The Second U.S.-Mexico War). Made with filmmaker Gustavo Vazquez, it weaves together factual and fictional accounts of U.S.-Mexico relations with clips of exploitative Hollywood movies—sci-fi, westerns, musicals, dramas, porn and cartoons.
The mockumentary—narrated by the performance artist and activist, seated at a table, drinking and toying with the term “alien,” which, in this movie, also refers to “Euro Aliens” who took away Mexican land—will almost have you laughing at the “truth” Americans have perpetrated through popular culture and history classes.

Kristen Peterson
Las Vegas Weekly

Contemporary Arts Center Annual Juried Show May 5th - June 18

2011-03-25T09:30:00.000-07:00

May 5- June 18

The Annual Juried Show is the Contemporary Arts Center’s (CAC) annual opportunity to expose artists working in contemporary visual arts to a wide audience. This exhibition is a prominent showcase in the Southern Nevada region and highlights the exceptional work of national and international emerging artists in all media.

Eligibility

National and international artists 16 years and older may submit a maximum of five works completed within the last two years and not exhibited in a previous CAC exhibition.

Juror Julie Sasse has worked in the visual arts for over 30 years, as an artist, educator, gallery director and museum curator. She is currently the chief curator and curator of modern and contemporary art at the Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ. tucsonmuseumofart.org

Awards

Over $4,000 in awards money is available to the juror to present to artists.

Fee

A non-refundable fee for up to 5 artworks must accompany every submission. Payment for mailed and hand-delivered submissions can be made by credit card, cash or check (made payable to the Contemporary Arts Center). Online submissions must be paid by credit card. Payment of this fee does not guarantee that any/all artworks submitted for jurying will be included in this exhibition.

CAC members:

$20 for 3 entries.

$5 each additional entry.

5 entries total allowed, up to 3 images per entry.

Non-members:

$30 for 3 entries.

$10 each additional entry.

5 entries total allowed, up to 3 images per entry.

Requirements

Emailed entries:

Email CACAJS2011@gmail.com with subject heading ‘AJS 2011’ and the following information:

Completed entry form in the email or as an attachment
Images must be in JPG format
Maximum 1MB file size per image (suggested resolution of 300dpi)
Filename instructions: Last name_First name_entry#.jpg (ie. Smith_David_1.jpg)
Entry fee included as complete CC# information. Emailed entries will NOT be accepted with any other form of payment.

Mailed entries:

Mail CD with images (formatted and titled as listed above) to:

AJS 2011

Contemporary Arts Center

107 Charleston Ave, Suite 120

Las Vegas, NV, 89104

Include the following information:

Completed entry form
Clearly labeled CD with AJS 2011 and your name
Images must be in JPG format
Maximum 1MB file size (suggested resolution of 300dpi)
Filename instructions: Last name_First name_entry#.jpg (ie. Smith_David_1.jpg)
Entry fee included as check or CC#

Video:

Mail video samples on DVD or CD to:

AJS 2011

Contemporary Arts Center

107 Charleston Ave, Suite 120

Las Vegas, NV, 89104

Include the following information:

Completed entry form
Clearly labeled DVD/CD with AJS 2011 and your name
Must be DVD?CD player ready
Entry fee included as check or CC#

If you wish for the return of your CD or DVD, include a SASE along with your submission.

Selected artworks must be delivered ready to hang/display. Artworks considered unsuitable for hanging/presentation will be refused. Curatorial staff reserves the right to refuse an artwork that is misrepresented through documentation or is not the piece selected by juror.

Calendar 2011

April 15 All entry forms and images must be received by Saturday 5pm, Nevada time. Late entries will not be accepted.

April 20 Selected artists will be notified via email of acceptance. PLEASE DO NOT CALL OR EMAIL.

May 1 Accepted works MUST be received by CAC by 5pm, Monday, May 1, including shipped works. Hand-delivered works can be dropped off Saturday April 30, 12-4pm and Monday May 2, 12-5pm. Late entries will not be accepted.

May 5- June 18 Duration of Show.

May 5 Opening Reception and Awards Ceremony for artists and guests, 6-9pm.

May 6 First Friday, Downtown Arts District, 6-10pm.

June 3 First Friday, Downtown Arts District, 6-10pm.

June 18 Close of Show.

June19-20 All hand-delivered work MUST be picked up Sunday, June 19, 12-4pm or Monday, June 20, 4-7pm. Work left after this date will be subject to a $5 per day storage fee. All other work will be shipped by Saturday, July 2.

Sales

The CAC receives a 30% commission from all artworks designated for sale.

Shipping and Insurance

By submitting artwork for consideration for the 2011 Juried Show, the Artist acknowledges and accepts the following stated terms:

1. The exhibiting Artist is responsible for all applicable charges related to the preparation, packaging, insuring, and shipping/delivery of artwork to and from the gallery.

2. The Artist assumes all responsibility and holds CAC harmless for any damages incurred during shipping.

3. Artist may choose preferred art shipper.

4. Artist agrees to hold CAC harmless and waive all claims or causes of action against CAC, its officers, directors, employees, and volunteers for any and all damages, loss, or injury caused to any person or person’s personal property arising from or relating to the exhibition of Artist’s artwork at the CAC or by the Artist or persons affiliated with the Artist.

Thanks Vegas We Had A Great Turn Out For The Artist Reception - It's All A Blur

2011-03-18T10:10:00.000-07:00

Curator Justin Hoover (in middle)

“IT’S ALL A BLUR”

In partnership with SOMArts San Francisco

Featuring Artists: Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Dale Hoyt and Tony Labat

March 15th-April 23rd, 2011

Please come by the center and see the new exhibit

St. Patrick's Day - Artist Reception 6 pm CAC

2011-03-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

“IT’S ALL A BLUR”

In partnership with SOMArts San Francisco

Featuring Artists: Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Dale Hoyt and Tony Labat

LAS VEGAS March 15th-April 23rd, 2011,

Artist Reception March 17^th

^{Don't let the St. Patrick's Day crowd run you off. Plenty of parking in lot east of Artifice Bar}

^{Just let the entrance know your going to the CAC Artist Reception}

Artist Talk - It's All A Blur - Artist talk at UNLV last night

2011-03-16T11:54:00.000-07:00

President of CAC Anne Mulford and artist Dale Hoyt chat before the presentation at UNLV

An event that was hosted by San Francisco artist Tony Labat by Dale Hoyt

2011-03-15T06:57:00.000-07:00

"Marksmanship Training with Tony Labat" by Dale Hoyt from Dale Hoyt on Vimeo.

Artist Talk - It's All A Blur

2011-03-14T11:13:00.000-07:00

Dale Hoyt has been involved in the making, curation, and criticism of media art for over 32 years. His videotapes, drawings, and paintings are in numerous permanent museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, and the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, CA.

During the '90s he spent several years curating the Video Program at The Kitchen Center in NYC and, in SF, founding C.A.L.F., the Coalition of Artists and Life Forms, the world's first artist-run think tank devoted to researching Biotechnology and its impact on society. This lead him to be commissioned, along with Steve Thurston, to draw the first authorized portrait of CC, the world's first cloned cat.

Tony Labat is Chair and associate professor in the New Genres department. He received his MFA from SFAI in 1980. He has been producing thought-provoking work in various media for more than two decades. Dedicated to working in multiple disciplines with each project, his art often combines elements of installation, sculpture, performance and video. Labat's immigration to the United States from Cuba at age 15 has had a profound influence on the many evolutions of his work. Having exhibited at prestigious galleries and museums around the world, Labat's work resides in a number of prominent collections and has received several awards and grants, among them two from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Born in 1955 and raised in Mexico City, Gómez-Peña came to the US in 1978. His work, which includes performance art, video, audio, installations, poetry, journalism, and cultural theory, explores cross-cultural issues, immigration, the politics of language, "extreme culture" and new technologies in the era of globalization. A MacArthur fellow, he is a regular contributor to the national radio news magazine All Things Considered (National Public Radio), a writer for newspapers and magazines in the U.S. and Mexico, and a contributing editor to The Drama Review (MIT).

Neon Lit - a very bright reading

2011-03-11T13:31:00.000-08:00

Doors Open at 6 pm - Reading begins at 7 pm

Cash bar and crunch snacks

The Arts Factory 107 E. Charleston Blvd

702-895-4366

Current CAC Member and Former CAC Board Member - Steven Spann

2011-03-11T13:20:00.000-08:00

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas to Feature Artist Steven Spann in Artist-In-Residence Program at P3 Studio.

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas is pleased to announce the second artist to be featured in the artist-in-residence program at P3 Studio is Las Vegas artist Steven Spann, featuring a take on his latest project, Trash = Art.

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas’ artist-in-residence program brings emerging and established contemporary artists to the resort and invites them to utilize space for creative production and exhibition of their work. The program debuted with artist Fab 5 Freddy when the resort opened in December 15, 2010.
Originally from Texas, Steven Spann denied a lucrative financial planning career to pursue painting full time. In his latest project, Trash = Art, Steven Spann has done a series of paintings using repurposed materials. These include fabric, styrofoam, cardboard, plexiglass, broken chairs, plates, paper, glasses and more. While in residence at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Steven will collect discarded materials from resort guests, partners and CoStars to repurpose for his series. Steven will work within the space Tuesday – Friday, 2pm – 10pm and Saturday – Sunday, 11am – 2pm and 6pm – 10pm. For more information on Steven Spann, please visit: www.stevenspann.com.

The resort’s artist-in-residence program represents one component of its larger art program, which was created through a partnership with New York City’s Art Production Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to producing ambitious public art projects, reaching new audiences and expanding awareness through contemporary art. Art Production Fund helped curate the unique programs at the resort, which feature several genres across the artistic spectrum.

March 10, 2011 by VegasNews.com

Poetry Night - Monday, March 21st

2011-03-09T14:58:00.000-08:00

Noah Eli Gordon, Sommer Browning and Aaron Belz will be reading.
Doors open at 7pm. Reading starts at 8pm.
This is a real treat for Las Vegas!
Three wonderful poets on one night

It's All A Blur - Special Talk To The Public On March 15th

2011-03-08T18:12:00.000-08:00

In partnership with SOMArts San Francisco

Featuring Artists: Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Dale Hoyt and Tony Labat

An endless train carries desert camouflaged heavy artillery through an unknown landscape. A shooting range target calls into question the form of fear and liberty in American popular culture. Performers use their bodies as a site for radical spirituality, memory, penance, activism, stylized anger and corporeal reinvention. Everyone gets the chance to be Batman.

The Contemporary Arts Center in partnership with SOMArts Cultural Center San Francisco are proud to present “It’s All A Blur”, a major touring exhibition about levels of empowerment and enfranchisement in the American West and the current status of the American Dream. This multi-media exhibition focuses on three San Francisco local masters, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Dale Hoyt and Tony Labat, was conceived by SOMArts curator and gallery director Justin Hoover and premiers at the Contemporary Arts Center in Las Vegas, March 15^th-April 23^rd 2011 before traveling to the Sierra Arts Foundation in Reno, Nevada, and the Feldman Gallery at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, where it will appear in conjunction with the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art.

This multi-media exhibition has three components, a gallery component, a public intervention component and a virtual online component. “It’s All A Blur” incorporates video installation, drawings, and sculptural installation, photography, and performance/video artworks. This body of work from these three prolific artists embodies unique viewpoints towards combating the marginalization of identity, be it through fighting against racial stereotypes, the military industrial war machine or the uphill battle of poverty and economic disenfranchisement.

SOMArts Executive Director Lex Leifheit commented, ‘“It’s All A Blur” highlights local masters who have pioneered an intellectual, multifaceted approach to identity and art as means for social justice in the post-Bush era. By creating work for a community whose spiritual, political, cultural and economic realities are in constant flux, they offer hope and provide the possibility of greater empathy.'

Curator Justin Hoover commented, “It’s All A Blur” is simultaneously a local and a global exhibition. It deals with multiple languages and multiple cultures. The featured artists have a global perspective and influence, yet their work is infused with a local area ethos. This is a rare chance to share with the world how three San Francisco artists have informed and shaped artwork the world over."

Artists will be giving a special talk to the public on March 15^thfrom 6:00pm-8:00pm at the Marjorie Barrick Museum, UNLV located at 4505 S Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas NV 89154. You can contact Dustin Wax at the Barrick Museum (702) 895-3381 for more information or with any questions.

Artist Reception March 17, 2011 from 6:00pm-8:00pm

“It’s All A Blur” is supported in part by the Community Arts & Education Program of the San Francisco Arts Commission. This project received support from Nevada Arts Council; WESTAF, the Western States Arts Federation; and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Beginning March 15th "It's All A Blur" at the CAC

2011-03-08T09:07:00.000-08:00

"Blanket Policy" by Tony Labat

The significance of altered images and objects

Juxtaposing the simplicity of certain works, including cats and a bbq grill, to its deeper contemplation of social issues and undertones of disturbing reality,

East Side Projects

2011-03-08T06:51:00.000-08:00

The Utopian diorama

The newest display at the CAC front window by PJ Perez
Our thanks to PJ for his wonderful work
Make sure you checkout the colorful addition

The CAC is accepting submissions of work for East Side Projects, a series of monthly two-week projects in the gallery’s front window space facing Charleston Blvd. This ongoing call is open to all contemporary artists working in any media. Artists must be current CAC members (defined as dues-paying members starting at the $25 level) in order to be eligible for consideration. To become a member go to http://cac.wildapricot.org/join. Site-specific work for the space is encouraged. We encourage artists to visit the gallery to see the space (window specs below.) Please note that the window receives a generous dose of Las Vegas sunshine.

Submissions must include a proposal, current CV/resume, artist bio/statement, disc with JPG images of original artwork (300 dpi at 2 MB or less please) and image reference sheet (including artist, title, media, dimensions, and filename). Send SASE for return.

It's All A Blur - Coming to CAC March 15th

2011-03-07T15:11:00.000-08:00

Warrior Gringostroika

Evening Shots from The Art Factory and Lou Ruvo Center March 2011

2011-03-07T07:13:00.000-08:00

Can you see the non lit paint brush? I wonder when?

Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health

New Window Display at CAC

2011-03-04T07:09:00.000-08:00

Contemporary Arts Center - East Side Projects

New happenings in the front window

The Utopian www.theutopiancomic.com

by PJ Perez

Geolocation Final Week

2011-03-02T15:11:00.000-08:00

Geolocation Show Ends March 4th

Make sure you get down to the Contemporary Arts Center to see Geolocation;

Larson + Shindelman

Geolocation portfolio featured in Issue 14 of Fraction Magazine.

Preview of Preview Thursday

2011-03-01T07:58:00.000-08:00

New dudes coming to CAC front window:

By PJ Perez

Make sure you come by CAC for Preview Thursday and First Friday, check out PJ's presentation

Thanks Everyone for Such a Successful Movie Award Gala

2011-02-28T08:59:00.000-08:00

Pre - Gala Oscar

Oscar

by Jesse Smigel

83rd Movie Awards Gala Red Carpet 4pm Sunday, February 27, 2011

2011-02-27T10:39:00.000-08:00

DJ Shoe will be performing at The CAC's 83rd Red-Carpet Gala!

Getting Ready at :

Come join in the Red Carpet Party

Drinks, Hors d'oeuvres, Silent Art Auction, Gift Bags

CAC 83rd Movie Awards Gala Silent Auction Artwork

2011-02-24T16:53:00.000-08:00

More Info: Movie Awards Gala

Mike Wardle Title: Broken Oscar

Size: 33 x 33"

Medium: Acrylic on canvas

Steven Spann

                                           Title: Happy Train
                                           Size: 40 x 72"
                                           Medium: Mixed media

                                          Alexander P. Huerta
                                          Title: Mechanics of Mentality
                                          Size: 12.5 x 28"
                                          Medium: Mixed media on wood

                                                       Ryan Reason
                                                       Title: Moment of Peace
                                                       Size: 11 x 14"
                                                       Medium: Digital Print

                                          Jerry Misko
                                          Title: One Rant
                                          Size: 11 x 14"
                                          Medium: Emulsion aggregation print

                                          Dar Freeland
                                          Title: Plus Minus
                                          Size: 24 x 36"
                                          Medium: Giclée on canvas

Niki J. Sands

                                          Title: The Key to Happiness
                                          Size: 30 x 30"
                                          Medium: Acrylic on Linen

                                               Domsky Glass Studio
                                               Larry and Barbara Domsky
                                               Title: Tide Basket
                                               Size: 12"
                                               Medium: Glass, blown glass and metal sculpture

                                          Laura Zollar
                                          Title: When Vision and Site Unite
                                          Size: 5 x 5"
                                          Medium: Acrylic on canvas

CELEBRATE THE 31ST ANNUAL GOVERNOR’S ARTS AWARDS

2011-02-23T09:44:00.000-08:00

Join us on March 2, 2011 at the Brewery Arts Center in Carson City to recognize recipients of the 31st Annual Governor’s Arts Awards. Tickets are $30 for the reception and awards ceremony. For their contributions of artistic achievement and service to the arts and to their communities, the Nevada Arts Council congratulates:

Andrea Lenz, Reno - Excellence in the Arts
Mary Warner, Las Vegas - Excellence in the Arts
Tsurunokai Taiko, Reno - Excellence in Folk and Traditional Arts
Sue Kitts Jesch, Carson City - Leadership in Arts Education
Wally Cuchine, Eureka - Leadership in the Arts: Individuals
Nevada State Museum, Carson City - Leadership in the Arts: Organizations
The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, Las Vegas - Patronage in the Arts

This year, NAC and Nevada Humanities will be presenting the Nevada Arts & Humanities Award for Public Service to Senator William J. Raggio and former Speaker of the Assembly Joseph E. Dini, Jr.

Please join us on March 2, 2011 at the Brewery Arts Center in Carson City to recognize recipients of the 31st Annual Governor’s Arts Awards. Tickets are $30 for the reception and awards ceremony. Seating will be limited, so we suggest you make your reservations for the Governor's Arts Awards now.

If you have paid or will pay for the Governor’s Arts Awards as part of your OASIS 2011 registration, you do not need to fill out a separate Governor’s Arts Award RSVP card.
Questions? Please give us a call at 775.687.6680 or 702.486.3700.

OASIS 2011 CONFERENCE REGISTRATION OPEN!

2011-02-23T09:38:00.000-08:00

OASIS 2011: Powering Nevada’s Prosperity is a one-day convening designed for artists, community teams, organizations, and educators—Thursday, March 3, 2011 at The Silver Legacy in downtown Reno. Featured speakers include:

Adam Natale, director of Partnerships and Business Development - Fractured Atlas (an artist-centric national service organization)
Deborah Obalil, marketing and organizational development specialist - Obalil & Associates
Lisa Carnevale, executive director - Rhode Island Citizens for the Arts
Ryan Keiffer, executive director & Beth Flowers, senior producer/project director - Beet Street, (the arts and culture organization serving Fort Collins, CO)

For those traveling more than 100 miles roundtrip to attend OASIS 2011, you may apply for a Professional Development Grant of up to $350 at nevada.cgweb.org. These grants are limited, so please submit your application now.

Download the OASIS 2011 speakers and agenda and register today.

Mary Warner: CAC Member Honored

2011-02-23T09:31:00.000-08:00

The CAC congratulates Mary Warner, this year's recipient of the Governor's Arts Award for the Excellence in the Arts Category. Mary Warner was one of the dedicated founders of the Contemporary Arts Center, formerly the Contemporary Arts Collective, and one of last year's GAA recipients. Celebrate all she has done for the Las Vegas arts community in Carson City at the Governor's Arts Awards on March 2nd and attend the OASIS Conference.

Mary Warner is a visual artist, educator and curator. Born and raised in Northern California, she has lived in Chicago and New York City as well as teaching at the University of Montana, Oklahoma State University an University of Texas San Antonio before finally settling in Las Vegas in 1989. She is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Over the years she has received an N.E..A. Individual Fellowship, a Mid America Arts Alliance Fellowship and two Nevada Arts Council Individual Fellowships, as well as numerous smaller grants and awards. She is the recipient of the 2011 Governors Art Award for Excellence in the Arts. She has shown her work nationally and internationally. Mary Warners work has been featured in forty three solo exhibitions nationally and she has participated in fifty-five exhibitions across the state. Her work has been exhibited widely outside the state including the Whitney Museum, The Drawing Center and the Louis K Meisel gallery in New York. In California she has shown with Sherry Frumkin Gallery (Santa Monica) Wenger, Zara and Limn Gallery San Francisco and JAYJAY Gallery Sacramnento, Sandy Carson Gallery ,Denver as well as being included in a number of group exhibitions in Italy and the UK.

As an artist and curator , Mary Warner has been critical to the development of the local arts community. She was one of the founding members of CAC. She alternated between president and vice president in its formative years. She served for many years on the exhibition committee. She remains active as a member, encouraging her students to become involved.

GEOLOCATION at the CAC Until March 4th

2011-02-22T15:06:00.000-08:00

The GEOLOCATION project focuses on the cultural understanding of distance as perceived in modern life and grounded in network culture.

Nate Larson is faculty at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and serves on the Board of Directors for the Society for Photographic Education. He received his MFA from The Ohio State University in 2002. www.natelarson.com

Marni Shindelman is associate professor of art and an associate of the Susan B. Anthony Institute for Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Rochester. She received her MFA from the University of Florida in 2002. www.marnishindelman.com

Larson + Shindelman have lectured on their work at the Society for Photographic Education National Conference, Shawnee State University, Rochester Institute of Technology, the Alberta College of Art and Design, Nerd Nite NYC, the University of Texas at San Antonio, and Johns Hopkins University.

Who Would You Vote For?

2011-02-21T12:37:00.000-08:00

Actor in a Leading Role

Javier Bardem Biutiful
Jeff Bridges True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg The Social Network
Colin Firth The King’s Speech
James Franco 127 Hours

83rd Movie Awards Gala - Mercedes-Benz of Henderson is proud to support the Contemporary Arts Center

CAC Movie Award Gala

2011-02-21T09:22:00.000-08:00

Red Carpet Party, Drinks, Hors d'oeuvres, Silent Art Aution

83rd Award Night Gala - Red Carpet Party, Sunday February 27, 2011

2011-02-18T09:43:00.000-08:00

Which will you vote for? Skip LA...Join CAC Las Vegas for the Award Night Gala

Best Picture

Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech

127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

Professional Development Workshop - Verbal Communicaitons

2011-02-17T19:52:00.000-08:00

Creative Capital Professional Development workshop opportunity for Las Vegas artists

The Metro Arts Council of Southern Nevada is offering a Professional Development workshop on verbal communications on March 4, 2011 conducted by Creative Capital. You, as a local artist, are invited to apply for participation in the workshop. NV Energy is covering the cost of tuition for each artist thus there is no out-of-pocket cost to you. The workshop can accommodate only 20 people so there will be a selection process employed should more than 20 artists apply, and there are still 12 places left. It is our hope that this workshop will be the first of several offering different professional development opportunities to you. Please e-mail or call Joan for the application form. its short and sweet. Should you have any questions please contact Joan :joan@metroartsnevada.com or 702-370-0321

In 2003, Creative Capital launched the Professional Development Program (PDP) to share with a broad community of artists some of the tools and strategies for improved self-sufficiency that were initially developed for grantees. Since then, PDP has refined these methodologies and developed new ones, which it has shared with more than 3,700 artists in more than 50 communities around the country. PDP presents a variety of weekend, one-day and evening length workshop offerings in self-management, strategic planning, fundraising, web strategies, verbal communication and promotion.

The artist-centered approach recognizes that an artist’s career plan must stem from his or her own goals and aspirations. Workshop structures and pedagogy are designed to deliver timely and accurate information while nurturing a community of artists who validate each other's work and provide a context to share resources through peer learning.

83rd Movie Night Gala February 27th

2011-02-16T12:01:00.000-08:00

Movie Night Gala at Mercedes-Benz of Henderson - Its close to Hollywood

Call For Work

2011-02-15T08:21:00.000-08:00

For more info

Twitter as art

2011-02-14T09:37:00.000-08:00

We shoot texts into the ether every day, tweet meaningless gossip and confess transgressions in digital thought bubbles as we mill about the world. We’re skipping work, finishing at the gym, running late, losing jobs, buying shoes, having breakdowns and fighting with lovers. We hit “send,” then move on.

But if our words lingered, suspended against the backdrop from whence they appeared in an otherwise breezy moment, we’d have a deeply personal and revealing snapshot of a social climate. We’d have the work of Nate Larson and Marni Shindelman, whose exhibit, Geolocation, is showing at Contemporary Arts Center.

Larson (from Baltimore) and Shindelman (from Rochester, New York) use GPS coordinates embedded in Twitter to track public tweets. They photograph a tweet’s location of origin and overlay its text, creating poetic and sometimes haunting images on 30-by-22-inch C-Prints they refer to as “historical monuments to small-lived moments.”

The collection includes random tweets and tragic snapshots, compositionally compelling and devoid of humans.

From an urban sidewalk: “Will try my best to live life the right way, morally and ethically. I can’t keep living the way I am now …”

From a car wash: “While I was there a woman WELL into her 70s came in wearing a sweatshirt from ‘Bada Bing,’ the strip club from The Sopranos: Day made!”

The project emerged from the artists’ process of working together, collaborating over long distance and relying on the technology they see changing the world. Larson teaches at the Maryland Institute College of Art; Shindelman at the University of Rochester. The process is ongoing and the two will continue documenting while in Las Vegas.

“We’re fascinated by the sense of lingering presence,” Larson says. “There’s something about these social tools that make people more willing to share. And something about being in that location and imagining what it felt to be like in that location … We think of it as man-on-the-street social documenting, a way to look into the world.”

Kristen Peterson
Art Reporter
Las Vegas Weekly

Contemporary Arts Center of Las Vegas Presents - 83rd Movie Night Gala

2011-02-11T12:51:00.000-08:00

Come and join Contemporary Arts Center Las Vegas for a soiree

Guest blogger Laura Napier

2010-12-09T12:52:00.000-08:00

The second installment of our Off the Strip guest blogger series comes from Laura Napier, a Brooklyn-based artist who describes her project.

***project for a street corner (Fremont Street)*, 2010**

This piece was planned out at least a year in advance - I visited Las Vegas for the first time in Spring 2009, and Wendy Kveck brought me to Fremont Street to show me what happens there during the ‘Experience’ show just before I needed to be at the airport. For ten minutes, I laughed and cried and ran around photographing the amazing stock still ‘tourist zombies’ (as Wendy described them) all exhibiting the same behavior together, facing the same direction, watching the overhead canopy, some with mouths open.

Expectations vs. the reality of the piece.

During our performance I thought that our snake dance would close distances because volunteers would not be able to precisely follow the path of the person ahead of them. Instead, our group was very polite and careful, and so the tourists in the space did not get nudged around by our line as far as I could tell. The focus of the event is meant to be on the shifting of behavior of other people in the space, but I think our conga line became a spectacle in itself. Hard to tell what exactly happened because there are so many people and patterns to watch in the final video, you can see an excerpt and decide for yourself at www.lauranapier.com/project.html (scroll down). Also, unexpectedly, when we started our performance the Fremont crowd was not evenly dispersed over the space because an informal dance circle had formed in front of a temporary stage.

Interactions with local volunteers

Volunteer recruitment started before I landed in Las Vegas thanks to the amazing Justin Favela who was in touch every step of the way. A horde of enthusiastic volunteers came, at least 30, which was wonderful and scary (sometimes it is hard to get enough people together to do a proper intervention) and for a moment I thought maybe we had too many and would overwhelm the crowd already at the site!

Volunteers reported that during the intervention other people present in the space were making little comments to them as they passed by. One volunteer told me she was initially nervous about participating but ultimately felt safe during the performance, I suppose because we were a bunch of people doing the same thing. I find it difficult myself to perform in public alone - there is a pressure to conform to whatever is going on in a space, to do otherwise feels vulnerable. So it was great and necessary to have the crowd along. Dayvid, a volunteer, had a plethora of behavioral ideas the day after the event. A great one was what if we were not connected by hands on shoulders in the conga line or by holding hands, but were just following each other? How would that be different?

My liability and photo release forms, missing crucial information, allowed Superman to sign and participate in the performance, although it is funny I did not see him. Please don’t sue me or the CAC, Superman! I don’t have your contact information.

How you approached this piece differently in relation to your other interventions

Every performance I have produced in this series is unique to each site. Previous interventions include forming a circle in the midst of a stream of rush hour commuters in front of the WTC PATH station in Manhattan, and turning the ordinarily straight queue of tourists waiting to enter the Reichstag in Berlin. The dynamics and source of each group and place are so different. We were traveling more in this piece instead of standing still and holding our ground. Maybe Vegas demands a certain aggression due to the noise.

questions or issues raised in the panel

This project is not supposed to be all about watching the performers. It is more about using regular, usual behavioral cues to change a present public who are not entirely conscious of how we are shifting them in the space. It feels like a misfit to consider our event as a subset of the flash mob meme, and I’m still working out how to make my ideas clearer. I also really enjoyed learning more during the panel about the space of Fremont Street defined as public/private space hybrid and how restrictive rules on behavior were recently successfully contested by hula hooping artists. I subsequently attended a great talk in New York by the artist Mark Tribe who traced the changing ideas about and manifestation of ‘public’ and ‘public space’ through western history into contemporary society. I do not know if we can locate actual public space anymore in this country.

thoughts afterwards

It became clear that in this performance the natives were disturbing the tourists, rather than the usual tourists disturbing the natives. The Fremont Street public caught on during the event, since you cannot hide a conga line. At some point during the performance, a young man who’d been hanging out with a clique of teenagers near the stage came over and began obstructing me at the front of our line, choosing to walk slowly in the way of whichever way I turned with his back turned towards me. It felt strong and like I was losing control, and I faked him out by telling him that I knew what he was up to. You can see him in the video returning to his group and high-fiving his friends afterwards. People in the area definitely joined the conga, either they thought it was part of everything or just perceived as fun by impulsive types. Perhaps one of the few things you can do for free in Las Vegas?

Emily Kennerk At Donna Beam

2010-11-16T12:29:00.000-08:00

Even though the opening has passed, you've still got time to see Emily Kennerk's exhibition at Donna Beam Gallery on the UNLV Campus. And, even though it has nothing (visually) to do with the works in this exhibition, check out her interview with CACBlog here.

NeonLit at CAC

2010-11-16T10:48:00.000-08:00

Please join us November NeonLit, poetry and fiction readings by UNLV MFA students and guests. This month seven talented writers take to the stage: Mark Baumgartner, Mollie Bergeron, James Brown, Jim Earp, Bruce Johnson, Sarah Kokernot and Oscar Oswald.

We have heard rumors of guitars and dancing girls.

Doors at 6:00. Reading starts (promptly) at 7:00.

Come early for snacks and a chair. Cash bar will be available.

Call 702-895-4366 for more info.

Guest blogger Diane Dwyer

2010-11-16T09:10:00.000-08:00

Artists from CAC's Off the Strip series were invited to post about their recent work. The first installment of this series comes from Diane Dwyer. She describes her project for the exhibition series in response to questions from Wendy Kveck.

I had the opportunity to perform Can I Get You Anything Else? as part of this year’s New Genres Festival, Off the Strip. It was a great experience, and I want to thank everyone in Las Vegas for your generosity. I know you all worked so hard. What a great art community. I especially want to thank Wendy Kveck, Justin Favela, and Elisa Mondragon. I am also grateful for the support from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, which enabled me to travel to Las Vegas.

The following text was generated in part from questions posed by Wendy Kveck, the Director of the festival.

Can I Get You Anything Else?

Performance Concept:

Most interaction between strangers revolves around commerce --- the exchange of money for goods and services. We follow understood directions and rules that guide our behavior, yet within limited parameters, moments of intimacy might occur. Can I Get You Anything Else? is an interactive performance exploring the prescribed interactions of strangers using only the language of a waitress taking an order.

How the Piece Developed:

This performance was developed last year as part of a series of live actions. I often make pieces that are mediated performances, rather than live, and wanted to challenge myself before commencing with a new web project. At the beginning of 2009, I had an idea to create a project in my apartment that would be a collaboration of performances, realized as a website. (This project is now DIANE'S CIRCUS.) In preparation, I decided to spend a year doing live performance. Because much of my work is performance for video, I felt it would be interesting to explore my relationships with body, interactivity, and audience. I participated in street interventions with K.I.D.S. and Flux Factory. I also did private performative acts, including riding the subway without sitting or holding on to anything. (This lasted 6 months- until I injured my foot.)

Can I Get You Anything Else? is another piece that comes from this series, which was first performed as part of the exhibition, a set of directions for making something, curated by Leslie Grant & Nina Pessin-Whedbee, at Grotto Gallerie in Brooklyn, NY. It is interesting how objects can generate ideas. I have a magnifying glass that is attached to an adjustable arm and base. One day I was playing with the magnifying glass, and realized that I could position the base on my stomach, and have the glass situated in front of my mouth, making my mouth enormous. This exploration immediately generated the idea for the piece, Can I Get You Anything Else? Separating my mouth, and what I am saying, from my body and my self, becomes both humorous and grotesque. The magnifying glass foregrounds the words I am saying and the distance we presume when interacting with people in the service industry.

My Performance on Fremont Street

My performance took place on Saturday, October 16^th, from 1pm to 3pm. With the help of festival organizers, I chose the outdoor area of Las Vegas known as The Fremont Street Experience. In the performance I wear a classic diner uniform, with a magnifying glass in front of my mouth, making it huge in front of my face. (The magnifying glass is attached to my body by a brass arm protruding from my stomach, secured under my uniform with a corset.)

My script, regardless of what people say to me or how they respond to my questions, remains circumscribed by my designated position... (“Italian, French, ranch, or blue cheese?” “Green beans or peas and carrots?” “Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, or coffee?” “I’m sorry, we’re out of the haddock.”) My questions always begin and end pointedly with selections such as the following:

“Are you ready?”

“How is everything?”

“Is everything okay?”

“Can I get you anything else?”

The theatricality of the piece fit in quite well with the environment of Las Vegas. I chose to approach many people as if I was their waitress who had forgotten to clarify part of their order:

“Um… I’m sorry… did you want that toasted?”

or “Excuse me, how did you want that cooked?”

Because of the location, I realized right away that I had to address the expectation of many there that I was actually trying to sell them something. For those unwilling to have a conversation with me, I simply said, “OK, I will be right back with your check!” This worked well. Many responded with laughter, some with confusion- and, I hope, a heightened sense that most experiences in that city are commodified.

While aspects of this performance are humorous and theatrical, I always look for a space in the conversation to ask questions that may be quite personal. Because the area is loud and bustling, I had to stand quite close to people to have a dialogue. Because of this, I did not generate a crowd, but did draw the curiosity of some- who I would later approach as I worked my way up and down Fremont Street. My interactions were usually brief, none lasted more than a few minutes. Because of this, I spoke to a large number of people. With many who did participate in the performance, my experience was intense. I have performed this piece before, though never in a tourist area. Certainly never in a place like Las Vegas.

What I didn’t foresee was the painful responses I elicited from some individuals. I think vacations reveal much about our definition of happiness, as something people think they can buy. This expectation must be exaggerated for some in Las Vegas, where experience is framed by the spectacle of artifice, risk of gambling, and opportunity for indulgence. Of course, people have fun in Las Vegas; and a number of interactions drew playful responses. During these exchanges, the requests included, a better pair of shoes, a new boyfriend, and even cocaine. My response to outlandish orders- “I’ll be right back with that!”

I did encounter some drunk tourists; and tried to make the performance work by exaggerating the confusion they were experiencing, playing the confused waitress, trying to clarify further, what errors I had made in their order.

While there were a range of responses, the dialogues that are staying with me revealed what I can only describe as despair. The performance became most potent when asking, “Is everything all right?”

The painfully insistent response, “YES! Everything is GREAT, why wouldn’t it be?” that one man expressed revealed more than he intended.

I do consider this piece a series of private interactions, though I will share the end of another encounter:

“Is everything all right?”

“I don’t know.”

“Can I get you anything else?”

“Can you?”

And she walked away…

She was curious about what I was doing, initially. And now, her response is something I am still thinking about… both in terms of how this performance functions, as well as what I think about audience. She and all of those I encountered are as much the performers of this piece as I am. Are they also the audience?

Perhaps not.

I think I was provoked as much as any participant.

Flashlight turns 30

2010-11-11T10:32:00.001-08:00

Call for entries for an upcoming project at Donna Beam. Click here for more info

Off the Strip 2010 Las Vegas New Genres Festival

2010-10-07T10:39:00.000-07:00

October 14-16, 2010, city-wide

The Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) is pleased to present “Off The Strip 2010” a three-day new-genres festival October 14-16, 2010 that offers an alternative to the highly formulated entertainment and spectacle of the Strip. Artists from the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe have been selected to present work in Las Vegas in a format that invites the community to experience contemporary art and dialogue with participating local and international artists about their work. These artists will present challenging work addressing themes of consumption, visual spectacle, displays of sexuality, atomic testing, and Las Vegas as a global hub. For more information, schedules, and participating artists, please visit the Off the Strip website here.

Interview with Aaron Sheppard

2010-10-01T09:13:00.000-07:00

Aaron Sheppard is on the brink of a solo exhibition opening October 30 at Western Project in Los Angeles. He recently took the time to discuss his new work, Las Vegas, and friendship.

CACBlog: Thanks for taking the time for this interview. I’ve been thinking about your work (and you) since before we moved to Vegas. The first time we met was at a party at Brian [Porray] and Kyla [Hansen]’s house over a year ago, and I knew who you were even before we shook hands (and maybe hugged?). My sense is that who you are—your body, your persona—has always been critically and psychologically linked to all of your production, whether performance, painting, or sculptural work. As example, in the recent interview you did with Scott Dickensheets for Desert Companion, you described your relationship with painting,

It’s using your body, your thoughts, using the things that come naturally to you—it comes through in movements, which are recorded in the marks you make on the canvas.

Without letting the cat out of the bag, for your upcoming exhibition at Western Project (LA), I know you're fabricating a monumental cast aluminum sculpture that has required you to learn casting techniques. Would you discuss how these new procedures--sequenced, particular, coded, new movements--have affected your relationship to your other process(es)? Which is to say, casting doesn't seem natural to anyone; it's hot, awkward, tense, and potentially dangerous. Different than painting, in so many ways.

Aaron: "Hot, awkward, tense, and potentially dangerous," as you refer to the casting process is not all dissimilar to the fashion I utilize other materials, which came as a surprising irony to me. I was intimidated by the material. My ignorance developed unfounded fear and expectation. Previous to this, and a few other smaller pieces I have been working on in metal, I had limited exposure to the material: a friend and I used to build lofts out of wood and metal for artists living in Brooklyn (Studs on Studs was our company name); and volunteered for The Wooster Group, crawling underneath and helping to make adjustments to their custom stage design (volunteer rather than paid, since while in undergrad at the Corcoran I refused to learn metal for my obsession with wood and clay).

"Knowing is half the battle." Once safety concerns are met and procedures are understood, all that's left is to create.

I have appreciated learning casting techniques taught me primarily by Eric Pawloski. This process requires a team of others to help in pouring and moving/lifting. I owe much to Diana Mateer, Shannon Eakins and Emily Kennerk as well for their assistance. Diana and Cliff (at WP) edged me on, insisting that I learn the process and create this piece ("Phal-Fem") myself rather that paying out to have it done, which I had been looking into. I am grateful to them all and for the experience and plan to do more with metal! (I have ideas for incorporating metal and wax into my paintings. Inspired by the material itself to actually paint with metal, as well as to create other castings.)

I provide an image for the original inspiration, etching by Franz Von Bayros, for "Phal-Fem"...

Responding to all of your diverse approaches collectively, would you discuss the discrete roles of your different ways of working? Which is to ask, really, in your remarks that I quote above you delineate painting as being a performative act, but it is an act that for you resolves itself on the canvas, as an object created with certain materials, methodologies (however expansive that field may be), and histories. I guess my question is, when you discuss movement associated with painting, do you find yourself thinking about painting in ways similar to, perhaps, Viennese Actionists or Gutai group? Does your work in that way of being a record of movement—of event—share a kinship with someone like Hermann Nitsch or Shiraga Kazuo? Kazuo’s Challenge to the Mud (1995) and Nitsch’s Aktions both comes to mind, for example.

It's a more spontaneous fluxus, happening attitude, I think. With a pinch of Suckdog or Nike, "Just do it" and perhaps a slight romantic simmering aroma of modern William S. Burroughs putting holes into doors and ex-wives heads. I wish my balls were as big as Mother Flawless Sabrina's otherwise it would be like that.

Various materials find their way in, and ways of slinging a paintbrush will change when I paint. I don't have one specific method for creating. I go with my gut. I'm a paint whisperer. Sometimes the paint won't talk, just like in life some conversations are meaningful, others are just small talk... I want to connect with the material and listen to its passion. This process involves performative full body acts at times. Just as performing live in front of an audience the performer is fueled by the energy of the house. That energy changes with the weather, sometimes quite literally.

I may buy material and stretch canvasses with distinct intention of what I plan to happen on the canvas, other times I don't, other times still that might change along the way. Ultimately, I must take time with each composition and be open. A lot of paintings get painted over like this, but layers and veiling is what I am interested in anyway. My focus for many years has been to focus on not overwhelming each composition. Unlike people, diptychs, triptychs and a series might develop. Cutting the arms and legs off people in this world may not be the best way to improve someone's attitude, but often that IS the case with painting.

I'm searching for creating profound moments that can be had between me, material, other viewers and the final work ("me" more as conduit". I think Philip Glass and David Byrne each said something about they're just being the thing that taps into the underground river source... that's it!)
[I sound hippy, oh well.]

At the end of that same interview, you’re quoted as saying that your hopes for your works is for them to potentially bridge your experience with the viewer. You state, “what is really the essence of your story and mine when they come together?”

I love the notion of coming together in/with/for the work. How are you envisioning the space at Western Project as an environment for this kind of engagement? Do you design the space to encourage different or perhaps discrete stories to exist simultaneously, or will your work offer a single spatial narrative that frames this meeting? In terms of time and the psychological space of your work—of the story and its essence—when is a good time to visit an exhibition of your works? Crowding into the opening? Alone on a weekday afternoon? Both? Neither?

This is not one installation piece. This body of work is intended to be no more or less effective at one time versus another. The gallery space has two sky lights so I must say that I am interested in seeing how the changing of light will have its affect on the works, especially considering there is an abundance of neon in this work as well as many sculptural elements. I do see connections between individual pieces mostly based upon formal elements, especially concerning light, in the work.

It's difficult to talk about this show hypothetically concerning how it is to be curated.

This is a bit of a departure from the other questions, but hopefully returns to and reframes some of the ideas about (your) persona that I approached earlier. Would you comment on how the community in Las Vegas has supported your work, and how you reflexively support them? The Desert Companion article does a great job of talking about the literary and visual references in your projects, but I guess what I’m curious about (and what it doesn’t address) is how much you are invested in a close-knit group here. You share a studio with Justin Favela, teach multiple classes at UNLV, attend every opening you can, and seem to know everyone. Actually, I’m pretty sure you do know everyone. Does—or can—any of this directly translate to how you approach your practice as an artist?

Community and street culture overwhelmed my senses in the metropolis. New York was a writhing parasitic beast with adornments, attachments, extremities coming out it's pooter... and cooter. This Ouroboros lived underground, in the shadows of fame and its main nutrient was the constant of reinvention. Its heart pulsated with the tracks of the subway and as we walked from car to car, stumbled from cab to cab, intro/extroverted understanding of our collective consciousness was had. We saw our present and future selves unite while ever riding upon the beast's scales; scales of such extreme judgment as to hit the back of the head of total acceptance. We supported one another with a quick cliff notes version of zen doing and being and instinct and passion. Spontaneity was the body's intake and exhale brain floss, our action/reaction, our rock n' roll beast's heroin.

Vegas has turned me into a blues singer and stripped me of the New York rock-stardom I arrived with because Las Vegas is death. I turned my back to the collective beast. It was left in the dust one Sunday morning and was slain by my works becoming individuals of their own. The sparks of performative happenings had seeded their own physicality. The non-physical became object. My children had birthed me as their pitiful parent. Sitting in sweat under a pile of neon flashes, I sing to my barefoot children and to fat mid-westerners in search of a win. I sing of memory of the beast, that their Momma is the beast that will one day return to us. In the faces of my children I see tears as love letters to energy of the past, pooled reflections addictions afflictions showing us all clutching to the present. They are veils of layers of iconic imagery, of color of slaps across her beastly ghost of a face...

"God's away on business..." Tom Waits won't walk the streets of Vegas as skulls panhandle like sluggish bugs under the feet of the wanna-be-gangster fortress while strippers on stage have forgotten how to cry. East on Freemont Street is where Coney Island pops up like urban daisies. Can't see the ocean but nobody ever goes in anyway... but you sure as shit hear its waves roaring, floating at this 15/95 hub and screams of ecstacy and horror flood over the sound of semis... cuz the boys and girls are riding machines called slot and tables called crap. Not to mention the smell...

A date once in a while can do wonders for a man.

You are right. I do know many people here in Vegas. (Not anything near to the socialite I was in NY.) I enjoy differences in people and NEED people with whom to bounce energy back and forth.

From 2006-2009, while engaged as grad student at UNLV, I felt I was VERY closely engaged with my school, city and larger global community. Along with David Sanchez, Justin Favela, Mary Margaret Stratton and many others, we created an event called 'Lustre Flux' where we engaged local talent on stage at The Thunderbird Lounge at The Aruba Hotel. Many of us performed and showed works at various venues around town including regular involvement at The CAC. We would regularly drink and sing karaoke at The Champagne Lounge, Stakeout each Friday, bowling at Gold Coast Mondays... We would sit each night beside our pool and philosophize underneath police helicopter spot lights, shooting stars and the occasional UFO. Big impacts upon local community can be noticed and felt here unlike other places, perhaps since The Strip dominates most all else. Community and team efforts were big with us at The Pawnee House, where Lake Newton, Dave Sanchez, Favy Favela, Brian Scanlan and others lived over the 3 years.

Much of that changed when Favy and I obtained our studio downtown during the summer of 2009. We focused on creating a working environment in which we could spend most/all our time creating. I have removed myself from my good pals. I have met some of my best life friends and loves in this town as well as some of the biggest pains in my ass. I still try to keep in touch. Favy is a great pal to have around as we work side by side regularly in the studio. He has turned into one of my best critics.

I feel extreme solitude now since graduating, a hermit in my cave. The Vegas death surrounds me and I'm thankful for most of it. It's romantic, eh? It is very hard to be your own boss but for the past year alone with my works, I know I'm giving nearly all of my attention to what I want to now. I am getting to a place now where I want to engage with people coming over to my studio more as I also want to frequent seeing my colleagues' work. A better balance.

This is a transient town. Similar to when I lived in Washington DC, people come and go. I feel Las Vegas is to Los Angeles what Washington DC was to New York in that respect. Every once in a while an artist will move to LA but ALL of us talk about moving there. Las Vegas defines "identity crisis," it is afraid of losing its talent. In being Vegas-centric, this town holds back and lacks support for its local artists, living up to the adage, "What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas".

In line with this, we’ve also spoken very deeply on numerous occasions about pedagogy and the crucial role of art education. I’ve never attended one of your classes, but my sense is that you are deeply committed to teaching and your role as an artist-educator. Building off the questions above, what attracts you to teaching? As a performative, experimental space it seems singular and as a shared learning community it seems—especially in Las Vegas—a vital resource and necessary forum for artistic exchange. How do you engage with or navigate these notions in the classroom?

Teaching undergraduate art holds a HUGE responsibility. I'm constantly assessing myself to ensure that I'm upholding my end of the bargain as educator.

On the other hand, I do not believe in fudging information. If I am not knowledgeable about a certain aspect or artistic practice I make sure that I acknowledge it to my students. I will do research and find specific information pertinent to particular individuals in my class as I see fitting. I have as much to learn from my students about art, and I am constantly, as they do from me. The main ideas in "The Ignorant Schoolmaster" by Jacques Ranciere apply to this thinking as it does in much of art-making itself. Teaching and obtaining tenure is hypocritical unless each educator is required to pass along their own areas of expertise by way of the school supporting each teacher as artist within their practice doing research first and foremost. Many programs do work like this.

Being employed by UNLV it's not politically correct for me to say, but I don't believe in liberal education. Not everybody needs to learn how to draw. I say, know what you want and learn by doing it. Do not get distracted by irrelevant requirements. School is overrated and public libraries are underrated. Intern with professionals in the field, perhaps. The UNLV curriculum is far too lenient and takes advantage of their students by not providing goals and direction for more direct success.

Last question. We've discussed it at least once, although it's come up in various conversations I've had with others about you, but you're well known for your cracker salad. Any chance you'd like to share the recipe with our readers?

You need a bowl. Crackers...and a plane ticket for my Mom or Grandma to fly out and make it for ya.

Aaron Sheppard in Desert Companion

2010-09-22T11:52:00.001-07:00

Open publication - Free publishing - More art

Neon Lit at CAC

2010-09-20T11:05:00.000-07:00

NeonLit Poetry and Fiction reading
Friday, September 24. Doors at 6:00, Reading at 7:00
Snacks and Cash Bar

First Friday Call to Artists

2010-09-09T09:36:00.000-07:00

Dear First Friday Art Family,
Our last fundraiser at Firefly at the Plaza was so successful and so much fun we have scheduled a second one for early November. Once again, we will offer a low cost, all-inclusive ticket price (entry, food, and a signature cocktail created just for the event) so that people will be more inclined to participate in the fabulous live and silent auctions that have become the key draw of the event. I am writing to ask you to consider donating one of your artworks to the auctions and this time I have a way to sweeten the deal for you.

Whirlygig Inc. is providing a $1,000 cash prize from the proceeds of the fundraising event that will be awarded to the Juror's favorite piece in the live auction. The juror, Kenton Aemmerson, Cultural Action Coordinator for Cirque du Soleil, will select 20 pieces for the live auction from all submitted entries and will make his award from this group to be announced the evening of the event.

All other donated works will be included in the silent auction along with goods and services from local restaurants, shows, hotels, and businesses who believe strongly in First Friday's ongoing contribution to the cultural life of Downtown. If you would like to show your support for First Friday by donating one or more original artworks, please send a 72 dpi digital image of your piece(s) along with title, medium, size, date and value to info@firstfriday-lasvegas.org no later than September 30, 2010. Subject line should read: Artist Submission, First Friday fundraiser

Note: The Fall Fundraising event will continue to accept donations of artwork after September 30, but only works received as a digital image and with complete information will be eligible to compete for the Juror's Prize. Include contact information. If you have any questions, please email (best way to get in touch with me) this address or call 678-6278 between the hours of 11am-4pm Monday-Saturday.

Thank you again for your great and generous support of Downtown's premiere art event, and I look forward to seeing you next First Friday.

Sincerely,
Cindy Funkhouser, Whirlygig, Inc.
www.whirlygiglasvegas.org
www.firstfriday-lasvegas.org

Interview with Stephen Hendee

2010-09-07T16:56:00.001-07:00

Perhaps appropriately given the context of the exhibition, I recently conducted an email interview (from questions written in a cabin in rural Michigan) with Stephen Hendee around his new exhibition at the Marjorie Barrick Museum, The Textiles of Dark Age Era North America: True Artifacts and Reproductions, From 2026-2280.

CACBlog: Thanks for taking the time for this interview. One of the things I was thinking about when I read the press release for the exhibition was that many of your works (both here and in past projects) have taken a strong interest in looking at and proposing civilization after the fact, posing—in no uncertain terms—what happens (or in this case, what happened) later. Similar perhaps to the approach that Ridley Scott adopts in Blade Runner or William Gibson in All Tomorrow’s Parties; transitioning out of the world we use now and leaving some things intact, but different; broken, rigged, temporary, shifting, unstable, homemade. Maybe improvising in a sense on what is already there. Like commenting in the role of a cultural historian on the eruption of Vesuvius before it erupts.

Stephen: I’d argue that these are not displays of lost civilizations as such, but present a process of continuity and reflection that is consistent with how society cyclically reformats and re-imagines the past. The museological historicization that occurs within cultural institutions is a mechanism optimistically used for public knowledge, but is more often used for a subtle propaganda that provides a variable but common ground. I assume that this convention will continue to occur as long as people signify the past. Recontextualizing our future within the past of the described subject in a believable manner requires conveying enough of what we can understand in order to outline the prospective narrative. Science fiction and speculative fiction, its semantically more socially relevant sibling, provide subtextual links to the everyday. As William Gibson spoke of science fiction: “The future is already here - it is just unevenly distributed.” This would then be a relative equation, the axis of time and content being placed anywhere along a converging line held by the viewer and their ability to understand enough of the elements to build a narrative.

Artifacts have the benefit of the history of the everyday woven into it’s story, whereas contemporary art doesn’t normally make the point of providing that information, often an artist is expecting the work speaks for itself as an optical, representational, or materially provocative subject. This exhibition simulates a representation of events that have never occurred, while as art, the utilitarian objects presented need the viewer to entertain that this fictional history is realistic enough to believe.

In such a scenario, your Monument to the Simulacrum would appear to be a remnant of this (our) civilization, but the sculpture effectively disrupts any straightforward temporal reading; it is here now as part of our world, yet somehow commenting on and physically diminishing it’s referent (the Mirage). Would you discuss the criteria and processes you use in choosing (or mining) specific objects—or in the case of the Barrick exhibition, specific language—to use as artifacts to a lost civilization, or rather, the notion of a lost civilization?

I did not generate a silver plate photo of revolutionaries waving flags from the top of the Monument to the Simulacrum or of Daniel Oshima parkouring off of it, though I was tempted, because there is a perch designed up there for such. The Monument to the Simulacrum is dedicated to the writings of the late philosopher Jean Baudrillard, which describe the hyper-real empowering the development of Las Vegas. The Monument sits on top of the Centennial Time Capsule for the City of Las Vegas to be opened in 2105. Its history is already on track, to suggest anything about what that reality holds could be taken as a political indictment of the current conditions. Will the city still be present in the absence of water sources, or as the core of the alternative energy industry, a robotics silicon valley, a high speed regional transportation hub, or end up as just another tourist trap ghost town? Any sustainable future here is based purely on speculation.

In the text for your work Storyteller’s Drops (2035-2250) you write,

Before the chaos, most of the world’s libraries and archives had been converted into digital formats. Paper books became antiquated and though cherished by many, the production and distribution of book editions had diminished to a trickle and completely ceased more than a decade before the disruption. It is obvious to us now during the event of 2026, we lost nearly the entirety of human historical record. It was no small tragedy that most print paper had already become uncommon, but compounding this problem the electricity used to run all other informational archives both public and personal disappeared almost overnight. Unaware of the scope of the unfolding events anything that could be burned for warmth or cooking was used for survival, including most of the remaining books and paper.

For as many who wandered looking simply for food and clean water there were as many in shock that their lives, location, and history had been erased. Individuals and then groups became recognized for their ability to remember and re-record the history of collective memory among the survivors. Traveling storytellers became an instrumental part of community life. The arrival of those reciting their personal and handed down memories was met with excitement and anticipation.

Many storytellers would travel with lightweight banners often painted with a list of authors or stories they were keen to perform. Sometimes these selections were an assortment of fragmentary works, with others the oeuvre of specific authors might be the focus, or single works of literature that would be recited over many nights. Central meeting places became a social hub of storytelling, music, shared communal knowledge, and history.

I’m reminded of an anecdote from my friend Steve Stelling. Late one afternoon we were discussing different ways we would potentially want to be buried after we had passed from this world. The conversation quickly took a savage, derailing Gonzo turn, with both of us trying to outmaneuver the other in pure weirdness. Steve offered that he would love to be buried in a pink bunny costume (of the quality and variety employed by college mascots) in the hopes of one day being exhumed and people assuming (wrongly, perhaps) that he had been the shaman of a powerful rabbit cult. I’m reminded of this with your banner that carries the phrase All Yesterday’s Parties, a clear transformation and temporal shift of the title of William Gibson’s book, as though it had already happened, and perhaps been forgotten, or misinterpreted. How vital is misinterpretation in your project and how do you see loss as being a potentially vital part of our future history?

For a period of time in the early 90’s I lived at the Phoenix Ironworks in West Oakland, a 100,000 sq ft warehouse, blocks from the port and last exit to the Bay Bridge. At least 20 people at one time lived there in two sometimes three-story houses made from scavenged materials. The Immortal Piano Company used the space for their business resulting in many finely tuned and restored pianos, but also those that could not be saved.

Piano mover Steve Heck used dead pianos to build giant walls and hallways separating spaces. Oddly enough when reading All Tomorrow’s Parties, the descriptions of the community on “The Bridge” read a lot like the construction and feel of the Ironworks. When looking at the images of the Ironworks it is not hard to imagine that the world has ended outside the walls of the vast yet miniature city.

The distortion created by context is powerful. To forget and then only partially remember things is common, as is the strength of completely forgetting something. In Baudrillard’s later essays he writes about the disappearance of meaning, as the internet never “forgets”, and this informational immortality creates a barrier to innovation and creative problem solving. The result of forgetting within the creative realm by definition allows “new” ideas to emerge. Once an idea dies it then has the opportunity to be created again within a completely new context for good or bad. If it is not forgotten, it then requisitely lives in an undead compost of masticated hyper-real culture. The fantasy of restarting culture itself is implausible but has hypothetical advantages for meaning or the quality of that valuation. I think that is why zombies and other post-apocalypse related pop-culture narratives are prevalent. There is a desire to pair the reality that exists without hyper-real culture with the world of our personal perceptions. Ironically, the only way to reconcile that is to simulate the experience by representing cultural survival and rebirth in the wilderness of the end.

In your use of camouflage patterns (and patterning in general), could you comment some on what the nature of camouflage has to do with the project? Which is to say, in his book Disruptive Pattern Material, Hardy Blechman posits that essentially there two different approaches that camouflage can be successfully deployed, as either disruption or blending. While these are not polar extremes, they do offer some sort of a frame, or a means of delineating approaches. What role(s) does camouflage fulfill in your practice?

I started this work because I had to find the cheapest way to continue making sculptural work. Camouflage is the cheapest fabric you can find and many of the camouflage elements are made from even less expensive bolt end cuts no one wants. In this case, the use of camouflage was to draw a line between the rare fabric being used carefully and being imbedded with significance to those who employed it. In this narrative, the warlords use it for intimidation and the Dawn workers use the pattern ostensibly to hide assets integral to restarting electrical service against the will of agricultural extremists.

Could you comment on Creech? Nellis? Since their inception, the military presence just outside of Las Vegas has always had a strong presence on shaping the city. Since moving to the city, I had always heard that certain casinos were built to cater to the military, and certainly other aspects of the city have followed suit. Are there particular ways (that may not be entirely visible) that the military presence presents itself in your practice? When did you begin to notice that the culture and aesthetics were entering into your practice, or have they always been present?

If you knew, you’d have to be destroyed. But seriously, the military is a philosophically existential presence in our society. In Pure War, a discussion between Paul Virilio and Sylvere Lotringer, there is an analysis of military advancement as the leading edge not only of technological hardware, but the perceptive high ground that accompanies that new way of seeing or utilizing that advantage. The locative and strategic advantage given to military assets will ether be created by or filter down to companies who will eventually use the same concepts to sell us consumer devices, that will control our perceptions of space, our subsequent behavior, and provide direct access for advertising and purchasing goods. Eventually we’ll all be on computers 8 hours a day. Nah, that all sounds like some far out science fiction, Philip K. Dick paranoia.

This is almost an aside, but when I was checking to make sure that Gibson had not also written a book entitled All Yesterday’s Parties, the first book that came up in my search was in fact All Yesterday’s Parties: The Velvet Underground in Print, 1966-71. Any chance that was intentional? Do you even like The Velvet Underground? Is this homage?

No, it was intended as science fiction in-joke in relation to the past of the narrative.

For images and more information on the exhibition, please visit Stephen's blog here.

Using algae as biofuel lecture at Barrick Museum

2010-09-07T09:33:00.000-07:00

Using Green Algae for Biofuel Production and Carbon Recycling.

Dr. John C. Cushman - 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 7 @ Marjorie Barrick Museum Auditorium

Green algae are ideally suited as a non-seasonal, renewable energy resource for the arid western U.S. because they can be more productive than terrestrial crop feedstocks, can be grown on marginal lands with municipal waste, in brackish or saline water unsuitable for traditional agriculture, can leverage geothermal and solar resources, and provide widespread potential for recycling of CO2 from biomass, coal or gas- red power plants. This lecture will discuss current research methods to optimize algal production and compare production harvesting systems.

UNLV Visiting Artist Series

2010-09-02T13:07:00.001-07:00

UNLV announces their 2010 Visiting Artist Series. Lectures are held on campus at BPB Physics Building Room 102 @ 7pm. For more information on the series and biographies of the artists, Click here for their site.

Panel Discussion at Sci-Fi Center

2010-09-02T06:28:00.000-07:00

Panel Discussion
Sci-Fi Center 900 E. Karen Ave.Suite D-202 Las Vegas, NV 89101
Date: 9 September 2010, Thursday 7:00 PM

Please join us for a round table discussion with CAC exhibiting artists and UNLV scholars on Thursday, September 9th.

This dialogue will present and expand on the relationship and overlaps between two consecutive CAC exhibitions that explore ideas particularly relevant to the Las Vegas community. The exhibitions are “America’s #1 Foreclosed City: Las Vegas” by Emily Kennerk (August 3 through September 18, 2010) and the previous installation “Reign of Glass” by Erin Stellmon.

Seating is limited. Registration is recommended but not required. Admission is free and open to the public, donations to the CAC a 501c3 non-profit are always appreciated.

Click here to read Emily Kennerk's interview with CACBlog

Click here to read Erin Stellmon's interview with CACBlog

Stephen Hendee at Marjorie Barrick Museum

2010-08-23T12:39:00.000-07:00

These images can't possibly do justice to this exhibition, so my suggestion would be to go to the opening on August 27 @ 6-8 pm and see for yourself. Stephen's project Monument to the Simulacrum was recently featured in Desert Companion here.

Here's the press release:

Join us for an opening reception and gallery talk with Las Vegas artist Stephen Hendee. The Ice Next Time is an exhibition of fictional post-apocalypse textiles, clothing, and artifacts. The objects are presented with post-dated interpretive panels describing the narrative arc of catastrophe, social disruption, and civilization's eventual return. Hendee said about the project, "This exhibition subverts speculative representations of the apocalypse to highlight the dependence we have on digital media, which has augmented our collective memory and experience." In our world filled with mass media entertainment, virtual communities, and instantaneous communication, this exhibition focuses the viewer to consider what it would be like to experience a world returned to direct interaction,unassisted memory, and cultural autonomy. Exhibition will be on display at the museum through Oct. 23.

Grindhouse!

2010-08-16T22:54:00.001-07:00

Interview with Emily Kennerk

2010-08-13T13:17:00.000-07:00

In advance of her upcoming panel discussion with Kirsten Swenson and Erin Stellmon, CACBlog recently sat down with Emily Kennerk to discuss Las Vegas, transience, and her new exhibition America’s #1 Foreclosed City: Las Vegas currently on view at Contemporary Arts Center.

In the press release that accompanies the project, [The installation] casts bright, critical light on the real estate collapse that has transformed our city. As her previous projects have dealt in American preoccupations with being Number One, it is with curiosity, empathy, anxiety, and subtlety that she now examines her new home as the country’s leader in foreclosures. Her installation America’s #1 Foreclosed City: Las Vegas investigates this phenomenon as a transitional space; growing, yes, but also fleeting, transforming, and adapting. We have all lost.

A twenty-two hour-long video projection pays momentary homage to every foreclosed home in the city in 2009. Photographs appropriated from online images are reproduced on sheer textiles at room-size; the interiors (and houses that surround them) unevenly obfuscated, disintegrating, evaporating. A powdered graphite rubbing traces the exterior wall of a vacant home and like rubbings of tombstones, Kennerk’s act of transference and inscription functions here as both memorial and artifact, conflating distances and uniting surfaces. Las Vegas has changed forever, and with Kennerk’s work our collective experience becomes significant, hopeful, and ephemeral.

CACBlog: Do you think Las Vegas is dumb?

That’s a good question. In one respect, you look at…there is an incredible history of city planning and civic structure, but Vegas from it’s inception hasn’t followed any of the proven structures that help a city in improving itself, whether by choice or how fast its city grew, or leadership; for some reason it was not considered.

Are you approaching this narrative as an outsider or insider?

You’re neither. It’s hard to be an insider or an outsider here. It doesn’t follow the norm of community—I’ve refrained from preferencing one…It’s emotionally removed, which probably could only be understood by someone who lives here. It’s an odd emotional state.

In your artist statement, you write that you are “interested in the transitional state of current modernity, the departure from a solid plausibility structure to a liquid one, and how seemingly discarded ideologies operate within current modes of thought”. So my question is, in this exhibition, is the seemingly discarded ideology the American Dream?

Yes.

It’s funny that the statement was written prior to coming here. I feel like I’m living in the middle of the thing I’ve always set out. Everything is moving. The American Dream has been in the process of being dismantled, it’s been a long time coming. Layer upon layer is being eroded, changed, shifting; the icon of the home, such a charged image.

Responding to the actual works in the exhibition, we’d like to spend some time discussing the rubbing. In that work, different from the others, your level of removal is not as far as in, say, the photographs or projection piece that utilizes found imagery. In the frottage, you were essentially massaging the façade of a building; standing (probably) in the sun, with graphite powder on your hands, tearing sheets, and walking around. Could you describe this process and perhaps how, if at all, it was a different experience for you and ultimately the viewer?

That piece was the hardest for me to do, both conceptually and as a physical artwork.

A return to a form of mark-making and drawing that had been discarded [in my practice]. Difficult to justify. At first, I did 15’, a heavy rubbing, working to get every edge, every crease. Speaking of the way I work, I would have thought it would have been more in line with the work.

It was difficult, starting at 5 am, working until noon, in the sun. I realized it was not working, it looked like a rendering, I thought it was too there. I thought it had lost some of its transparency (like the other works). The next day, I went back out, and picked up whatever got picked up; it was quick, it took a day. I left more up to chance, perhaps like a concrete skimmer; not being attached, not wanting a specific outcome.

With the photographic prints on the textiles, do you see the works responding more to a notion of transience or memory or both or neither? Are they related to sheers, like in so many of the houses you depict (not ours; we’ve got those cheap plastic blinds), or is the fabric a surrogate for something else? Are they hiding or revealing?

Both hiding and revealing. My interest; the images are like “seconds”; like raw data. Not the money shot, but a secondary image, something that only tells you a room is 12’ x 8’. That we believe this, that we do not see the room; we are not actually digesting what the image actually is. I’m interested in taking the image out of its context. Showing them as abstracted planes, very flat. Removing that and blowing that up. One, bringing back dimensionality, playing into space. They become a beautiful lie, like they were in the beginning, yeah? Seeing them as an artist, rather than a homebuyer perhaps. They are sort of like a myth.

How about the pace of the video? It seems surprisingly optimistic when you consider that the images were originally (and are perhaps even now) being used to sell these houses. Can you talk about optimism?

Optimism. What is optimism? I don’t see the video as optimism. It’s blunt, raw; nothing beautiful. Data, 1=1; one second equals one home. It’s a very literal piece. You need to stand there for twenty-two hours and nine minutes and that’s a lot. You stop looking. It implodes upon itself. Imploding, but it has no start and no finish.

There was another couple in the room while we were visiting the exhibition that made a point of saying how sad the work was. For us, we felt somewhat betrayed. We are seeing images that are designed for us as consumers, a role that we’re very comfortable with. But when you realize the images are of houses that people have lost, then you become very sad; this change in emotion.

They are consumer images. The images are looped. Thinking of Dan Graham’s Homes for America, first done as a slide show… functioning in the same way as the printed images on the textiles.

The myth again.

Since we’re looking at context, does the cycling of the video have an analogue to gambling, to card counting, to finding patterns in seemingly random images? Is this the most Vegas work?

That’s so dead-on. Yeah. Like Fashion Show Mall. The images flashing on the signage. Keno. Maybe a light pattern of the flickering. Subliminally we’re picking up on this everywhere. Like the story on This American Life.

No Whammies.

Would you discuss the notion of distance in your works in the exhibition? In all of your pieces, the distance to/from the viewer is mitigated by significant space(s); photographs and projections both point to a removal from the viewer in both temporal and physical space. In the frottage (rubbing), this space is shrunk, with your hand coming into contact with the paper which in turn is attached--however briefly--to the surface being transposed. Are these spaces and their degrees of removal different for you? Do they function differently in your practice?

With the found images or an icon, it’s a bridge to the viewer. It’s not mediated by me. It’s almost more comforting, or banal. It becomes more of a trigger. The rubbing may become this other thing. I think that one … it is a stand-in. It’s a process. Maybe I’m trying to hint at loss. There is a sweetness, a sentimentality.

In the other ones, the viewer becomes part of the medium.

In line with that, how does the concept of transience appear in the exhibition? The photographs are thinly visible and fluttering, the rubbing is done on site, removed, and transplanted to the gallery, and the images in the video cycle quickly and somewhat erratically. Everything feels like it may have to (or is) in the process of leaving. Are they coming or going?

I find… I wonder if they were ever real in the beginning. Did the structure ever exist? There has always been a shifting, moving. The show lacks so much structure in a way. It almost can’t react, or bounce, or return. It’s a vagueness that permeates. It’s a smell.

Maybe more than a smell, it’s a scent.

Yeah.

Our sense is that this exhibition is not so much a bold statement about the nature of foreclosure as it happens in Vegas as it is another chapter or facet of your response to your new home [Kennerk is a professor at UNLV and has lived in Vegas for two years and one week]. As example, looking back to your project for the Clark County Government Center Rotunda, you seem to be focusing in an extremely sensitive and analytical way on the ways that Las Vegans make their environment their own and the difficulty that comes along with that. Now that the exhibition has been on view, and you’ve gotten the chance to talk to some of the visitors who may be experiencing your projects for the first time, could you describe how those exchanges are influencing your approaches?

This show in particular has a framework that I’ve been working with for the last ten years. America’s #1 was a way for me to approach Vegas. Everywhere else there has been an environment structure. Vegas threw me for a loop.

That framework is still really viable here. The outcomes are so different; the framework still works for me. Some people will approach the work and instantly approach it as a negative press, but I’m not looking at it in that way. It’s not tied to a projected outcome that is negative. It is the material I’ve had to work with.

How do you reconcile this with other #1 works, such as your project America’s #1 Kitchen [at Cranbrook]? There is no doubt from the other projects that you are the insider, the American. In Las Vegas, there is something distant, but foreclosure is something else; it presents another spacing perhaps. In one you are a participant, in the other I’m not sure you are.

In America’s #1, #1 has to be at the top of the food chain. It has to be this thing that—America’s #1, then everything else is secondary. If I hadn’t come to Las Vegas then I’m not sure I would have approached it in this way. It is a way of me being able to deal with this. Maybe it is a coping mechanism for me to enter into this city.

Mid West vs. Out west?

Maybe I’m still believing in the openness, the freedom, the Wild West. But I can’t say I prefer one over the other yet, but it’s more of the essence of THE WEST. Not the Strip. Not nostalgia, but a lure perhaps.

Here’s the trailer for your next project: What happens next (for you) at Donna Beam? We hear there may be a ping-pong table?

Maybe two.

Fin

Community Counseling Center announces a call to artists for its Bite at the Museum 20th Anniversary Gala

2010-08-06T06:07:00.000-07:00

To celebrate CCC’s 20 years of service to Southern Nevada, Community Counseling Center is celebrating with a gala event, Bite at the Museum, an evening of fine food, raffles and entertainment to be held at the new Nevada State Museum at the Springs Preserve.

Deadline for submissions is August 13^th. Works may be dropped off at Community Counseling Center 1120 Almond Tree Lane, Suite #207 M-F 8am -8pm. Or email JPEGs of work to tlucero@cccofsn.org. Non-selected works will be available for pick-up after August 16^th. Selected pieces will be available for pick-up after September 20^th.

To learn more about the event, please go to www.biteatthemuseum.com. For more information about Community Counseling Center, please go to www.cccofsn.org. For questions, contact tlucero@cccofsn.org.

Writer's Workshop and Reading at Sunrise Coffee

2010-07-22T13:56:00.000-07:00

Writer's Workshop and Reading at Sunrise Coffee
Monday, July 26, 6-8pm

Brad Summerhill, a visiting writer from northern Nevada is is town briefly to promote his recently launched (July 21) first novel, GAMBLER'S QUARTET. Brad will be reading a few short excerpts from his book, and then conduct a free creative writing workshop for the first 30 attendees. A question and answer session will follow.

What they are saying about GAMBLER'S QUARTET: "Brad Summerhill writes a story of obsession and betrayal with an intensity that burns like neon. His characters move through a surreal landscape of desire, terror and loneliness...", "Brad Summerhill understands the tragic seduction of gambling and his work introduces that bleak and complex world in a tight, often tense, but ultimately redemptive narrative that challenges at our notion of human strength and vulnerability... "

Exit interview Part 5: Kyla Hansen

2010-07-08T11:37:00.000-07:00

Kyla Hansen provides us with our fifth in an on-going series of interviews with artists soon departing Vegas for elsewhere. Kyla begins her graduate work at Claremont in the fall. We wish her the best and hope to see new work soon. Go Kyla go!

Your original Las Vegas dream:

This may not be a “dream”, but when I moved here I really wanted to park cars at a casino… because you make cash while you’re staying thin… and that seemed quintessentially “Vegas” to me.

On your connections:

I see Mike Tyson on a fairly regular basis.

On casino executives and the media:

I thought they were the same people.

The popularity of poker:

I love video poker. I have since I was a kid. (My uncle got me a small video poker slot machine for Christmas one year). Since Bingo is only on odd hours, Brian & I end up playing a lot of double double bonus poker between bingo games.

What you’ll miss most about Las Vegas:

Its’ optimism. Despite being an incredibly harsh place, it seems to maintain a feeling of possibility. Even in the midst of an economic climate worse than Detroit’s, Vegas is still looking forward, assured that things will turn around (even if, in reality they may not). That kind of optimism is infectious… and I’ll miss it.

If you're going to miss the Eureka, his [Dave Hickey's] favorite neighborhood casino:

I know this may sound redundant (Brian has mentioned)… while we will not miss the Eureka we will dearly miss Arizona Charlie’s on Decatur. We LOVE bingo there… It’s the best in town… seriously. It changed our lives for about 3 months… we went every week.

What you won’t miss about Las Vegas:

The harshness. It’s toughened me up a little, but I’m ready for somewhere a little softer.

Also, my skin is in a continual state of peeling because it is so dry here. The skin that connects the earlobe to the face was cracked the entire first year I was here. Every time I would pull my shirt over my head to change, it would catch on my ears and make them bleed. Plus, no amount of expensive face cream, or miracle serum has been able to keep my nose from flaking. It’s all very disgusting and I won’t miss it.

What that last class at UNLV was:

… My last BFA class in the ceramics lab… I really love all those people.

What you will be doing at the [enter your new city here]:

I’ll be attending Claremont Graduate University, which I am so thankful for. The faculty is amazing. My first semester I’ll be taking studio time with Rachel Lachowicz… I read about her in art history! Claremont has beautiful studios, amazing facilities, the art office ladies have been so nice already… so all I’ll have to worry about is making artwork, and that sounds pretty great.

If you're ready to start over:

I am really looking forward to starting new. I’m ready to take better care of myself and take myself more seriously. I think it’s really easy to get ahead of yourself in Vegas. I spent way more money than I care to remember and had more meals at 7-11s than one person should. I’m looking forward to living very simply again. It’s been very cathartic to mine through all my things and keep only the few things I really need. Our house is slowly becoming more white as the rooms empty.

What kind of city you're leaving behind:

In ten years it should be fine.

If CityCenter was the right answer:

I’m mostly indifferent about it. It feels a bit like entering an airport… and a bit like the entrance to space mountain in Disneyland. I feel much more excited at the entrance to space mountain.

What’s to fear about Las Vegas in the future:

It makes me really sad whenever I listen to KNPR and they’re talking about the water shortages that Vegas will face in the very near future. I really developed a pride for Vegas in the short time I was here & I hope that it will continue to, as it always has, grow and change.

What Las Vegas is going to miss about you:

I don’t think I’m a big enough deal to be asked this question yet.

Images: Casa Walsh, Alta Dena, CA; Duncan

Exit interview Part 4: Sean Schumacher

2010-07-02T22:32:00.000-07:00

How do we truly define something or someone as local? That's a tough one, right? Well, Sean Schumacher meets the criteria for Vegas deeply and seriously, in multiple ways, always, truly, forever. In a city in constant flux Sean grasps at the shards--what Vegas leaves behind and forgets but what ultimately defines it and blows it's cover. As he himself describes it on his website, Sean Schumacher is an artist from Las Vegas, Nev. He loves the old, the broken, the disliked, and the forgotten--scraps of past glories and the relics of the unexceptional. Say hello.

Say hello indeed. But say it quickly. Sean leaves to begin graduate studies at Portland State University in the fall. But if you're lucky, you may just catch him before he goes, somewhere, somewhere inside the Stake Out. Say hello.

Your original Las Vegas dream:

Strangely, leaving. I suppose it is a common dream of those born here, but one that I haven't really had much lately. Right after I graduated high school, I managed to get into UNR and was convinced I'd never want to come back, so naturally I was back at home within the week. The difference this time is that I'd quite like to stay, but I have a reason for being in Portland now that I didn't necessarily have for being in Reno then.

On your connections:

Back to front: MagSafe, Ethernet, FireWire 800, Mini DisplayPort, dual USB ports, an SD card slot, and digital/analog audio out. Regrettably, no one seems to actually stock Mini DisplayPort-to-DVI adapters yet. My external display sits alone in a corner collecting dust, practically begging to double my pixel count, and I've nothing to give it but a sullen look and a shrug.

On casino executives and the media:

They're okay enough in my book.

The popularity of poker:

I've often wondered if growing up in Las Vegas has some effect on your makeup with regards to gambling. I've never gambled, nor had any temptation to gamble, yet practically every other person here still can't get enough of it. They've had slots in grocery stores for as long as I've been alive, and holding live poker tournaments as you wait in line to buy eggs seems like the obvious next step.

I thought I was finally going to be able to get away from all that madness when I moved, but Portland has Oregon Lottery-branded slot machines everywhere. So much for that idea.

What you’ll miss most about Las Vegas:

That it won't be here to come back to. Rather more accurately, it will be, but it won't be this Las Vegas anymore. Change never pauses here: places will be ripped down, and people will have moved on. That last one will be the hardest to accept because it's the people I'm close to—many of whom are leaving themselves—that define this place and make me want to stay more than anything.

If you're going to miss the Eureka, his [Dave Hickey's] favorite neighborhood casino:

No, but I have this odd thing about not enjoying being stabbed.

I'm sure it's perfectly safe, of course. I'd simply rather not take the chance; I do enough of that every day on Maryland Parkway.

What you won’t miss about Las Vegas:

The blow-dryer climate during summer isn't exactly doing this region any favors. I've reminded more than a few people that nothing will make me glad to deal with an adjustment to gray and chilly more than battling one last August here. They might have to fish me out of a puddle during my first week to get me to class, but I'll be content at last.

What that last class at UNLV was:

During the spring, I was having a great time assisting Bekah Just's web design class on a semi-official basis, which is the most official thing I've done for the Department of Art since I graduated. I do feel as though that was the start of a tipping point between just being an undergraduate with no real comprehension of the system of which I'm a part, and being a post-baccalaureate with a tenuous grasp on a future in art and a genuine reason to be milling around.

I suppose that's the other thing that will make for an odd adjustment: almost everything I've accomplished here has been completed surreptitiously. Even things that I did ostensibly for the school were skunkworks projects, and I get the feeling that Portland—while perhaps more liberal in attitude toward art at its face—is less forgiving towards that type of activity. The school's facilities office even has, amazingly, a public art installation approval form. Another project like 50 scraps would be essentially impossible with that kind of roadblock, though they'd likely prefer it that way.

What you will be doing at Portland State University:

Either working or reading, I suspect, and the balance will likely shift in favor of the second option if I end up living on campus next to Millar Library. I've also been offered the chance to teach a course or two, which I'm quite looking forward to; I'd be a third-generation teacher on my mother's side if I decide to continue on with it.

If you're ready to start over:

Really, no one can escape their past, and that's the most major lesson Las Vegas still has to learn. The least appealing characteristic about this city is the notion that you're perfectly in the right to attempt to obliterate something of someone else's because it's old or because you simply don't like it anymore; most of what Hickey seems to be going through relates back to that in some way. For my own conscience, I can't try to force out all the experiences—good or bad—I've had here without losing something integral to myself. Of course, I'll also be leaving with only what I can bring on the plane with me, so perhaps this is as close as I can get to a fresh start.

What kind of city you're leaving behind:

One I can't ever go back to. I don't mean to sound morose about it, but the Las Vegas of today bears little relation to the one I was born into, and will likely grow even further from it while I'm away. I'll certainly be back to visit, but I don't expect that it will resemble what I left. I'm willing to believe that won't necessarily be bad, though.

If CityCenter was the right answer:

Whenever I have a spare moment, I like to pass by the electrical room and cinder brick wall that are left from Maude Frazier Hall. Frazier wasn't the nicest building by any metric, but it had meaning and purpose—which is why they still can't take down the last bit of the south wing (the nearby wall of overly-large plaques memorializing important people deemed not good enough to have named buildings anymore is just weird, and reeks of the UNLV administration's guilt in marking the 50th anniversary with the purge of everything relating to that era from campus). CityCenter, on the other hand, is a monument to the pace at which the developers were competing to define the Las Vegas experience for the next decade, if only because it's the project that got finished when Echelon and Fontainebleau didn't.

So, I'd say CityCenter's a much better answer to the question of "how should we approach the next generation of Las Vegas resorts?" than the Frazier Wall is an answer to "what should we do with the one building that we absolutely can't knock down?".

What’s to fear about Las Vegas in the future:

A Las Vegas without green spaces is quite appalling to me, but seems to be the inevitable way forward. 110 degrees feels unpleasant enough beneath a tree-lined walk, but on bare concrete is quite nearly a death sentence for people who enjoy going outside. I don't envy those who'll be left behind with that experience.

What Las Vegas is going to miss about you:

My single-minded quest to keep the Stake Out in business by veggie burgers alone; my loitering at Grant Hall; my knowledge of Windows Mobile 5 barcode scanners, which the world may ultimately be better off having lost.

image: Maude Frazier Hall at UNLV, 1957; architectural rendering and site photo. Courtesy UNLV Special Collections.

CACBeer

2010-07-01T11:32:00.001-07:00

Exit interview Part 3: Abby Coe

2010-06-29T19:55:00.000-07:00

Interview number three is with Abby Coe, who recently completed her MFA from University of Nevada Las Vegas and who--after what will surely be an epic paintball feud tomorrow night in Vegas--departs for Knoxville later this week. She will be missed, and here's her interview.

Your original Las Vegas dream:

I wanted to come to a city that was dynamic and weird and about as far personality-wise from my bible-belt hometown of Knoxville, TN as I could think of. I wanted to make some art and come out with my Master’s in Fine Arts.

On your connections:

Connections are great and fabulous for your career and all, but I am happy with the friends I have made. These are people that wouldn’t just include me in a show or opportunity if such a thing came along, but they are individuals that would scoop my cat’s shit if I couldn’t afford the cat sitter. They would come and jump my car if my battery died (again) in the dry desert heat. They would tell me what they really thought no matter if it was going to hurt my feelings or not without regard to the marketability of whatever I was making.

On casino executives and the media:

I could really care less. The novelty of them is kind of interesting. Where I come from Smoky Mountain Wrestlers and Evangelist preachers on Cable Access TV have more notoriety.

The popularity of poker:

Sure, whatever. It’s just another game. I’m not really a big gambler (and by this I mean I have probably gambled less than $50 in 3 years plus 2 other visits to Vegas), so I don’t think I can really speak to this. I like video blackjack okay and penny slots. John and I used to rent a hotel room across from Harrah’s in Cherokee, NC and bring a cooler of beer or liquor to drink in our room (because the Indian Reservation is dry) and walk over to play $5 in the penny slots. It would last us about 3 hours and the most fun thing about it was that they still used actual coins. I would cash out all the time just to hear all those coins come spilling out into the little buckets they give you.

What you’ll miss most about Las Vegas:

I think I already said how much I will miss the great people I have met and befriended, but it is worth mentioning again.

I will miss Davy’s Locker on Desert Inn and $4 shots and beers, and trivia night on Friday’s. I will also miss the walk there and the not-so-sober stumble back.

I will miss my apartment complex for all the strange things that I have seen there and the lovable resident regulars that I have dubbed: Wrinkle Head, Circle Puke, The Ceramicist, The Sexual Offender (because his card came in the mail with a picture and a warning), Crazy Eye, the Pacific Islander (always donned a floral sarong the minute he was home), and countless others.

I will miss people-watching while waiting for the light to change at Maryland Parkway and Flamingo.

If you're going to miss the Eureka, his [Dave Hickey's] favorite neighborhood casino:

Never been to the Eureka. I did, however, go to Bagelmania on Twain because I heard it had the best bagels in Vegas and you would have a good chance of spotting Dave there. I was sorely disappointed, but not because I didn’t see Dave. I know a lot of Northerners are very particular about their bagels, but I just want mine to not be toasted to the degree that it cuts the inside of my mouth. On a good note, the service was supreme and I think if you are particular about your bagels and that fish stuff people put on them, this is the place for you.

What you won’t miss about Las Vegas:

I won’t miss the intensity of the heat in August. My first August here I left a 24 pack of Diet Coke in the back of my car and heard a strange hissing noise after hitting a speed bump. I parked and went around the car to investigate. About half the cans were exploding and hissing and spewing diet soda everywhere. The other half rolled out of the open hatch of my SUV and exploded on the asphalt and on my legs and feet spraying near boiling-hot soda all over me.

What that last class at UNLV was:

I guess you could call that my Thesis Exhibition class. It seems really distant to me now, even though the exhibition just happened in March. Almost surreal. Probably because I spent all lot of time in a liminal state of high blood pressure and panic. I was sure I wouldn’t pass my defense. It was really tough. I think a lot of the things that were tough to hear were helpful and I learned from them. I don’t think I should comment on the things that I thought were tough to hear and not helpful.

What you will be doing in Knoxville, TN:

John will be working at UT Knoxville. I don’t have a job as of yet, but I did make sure that our new place would have room for me to have a work space. I’m looking forward to being able to go to affordable rock shows again. I won’t be lacking for boobies and tassel twirling as my cousin just joined a burlesque troop in Knoxville.

If you're ready to start over:

I like the way that John put it… he said this was a new chapter, not starting over. I suppose going back to the city we both grew up in isn’t the best way to go about starting over anyway.

What kind of city you're leaving behind:

The same weird and eccentric one that I chose to move to. I feel like I just know more of its dirty little secrets now.

If CityCenter was the right answer:

What was the question it was supposed to answer?

What’s to fear about Las Vegas in the future:

I fear one of the things that also lends Las Vegas its appeal. It is the constant cycle of tearing down, scrubbing away the evidence, and rebuilding. I worry that in this it might end up destroying some of the really great little nooks and crannies of the city.

What Las Vegas is going to miss about you:

I’m a good tipper. I donate everything I can to Saver’s. I am a diligent recycler. I am blunt and forthright with my criticism. (Other artists can appreciate this.) I know for sure Wrinkle Head will miss me as he told me once, “Girl, I would die for you.”

Image: Abby Coe, installation view, Contemporary Arts Center, Las Vegas, 2009.

Exit interview Part 2: John Bissonette

2010-06-27T13:34:00.000-07:00

Our second interview in this series of four is with John Bissonette. While Davy's locker may not be the perfect studio shot, well, it may be. A significant part of John's studio practice has always been to donate paintings to bars he likes. In the spirit of Cedar Tavern or Max's Kansas City, Davy's Locker has come to be a nexus of artists who congregate there for their Friday Night Trivia. At present, they own two of John's paintings; one is behind the bar, near the front door, and the other remains in their on-site storage facility and is used as a backdrop for Halloween festivities. Really.

Wikipedia offers this description of The Cedar Tavern:
The Cedar Tavern was opened in 1866 on Cedar Street. In 1933 it moved to 55 West Eight Street, and in 1945 it moved to 24 University Place. Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, Michael Goldberg, and others of the New York School all patronized the bar in the 1950s when they lived in Greenwich Village. Historians consider it an important incubator of the Abstract Expressionist movement. It was also popular with writers Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Gregory Corso, Frank O'Hara, and LeRoi Jones. Pollock was eventually banned from the establishment for kicking in the men's room door, as was Kerouac, who allegedly urinated in an ashtray.

While I've witnessed only small amounts of kicking and no urinating in ashtrays (yet), Davy's seems vital to our community. Support them. Here is John's take on Vegas and what happens next.

Your original Las Vegas dream:

My initial hopes for coming to Las Vegas were to be able to pay my bills, get a cheap studio, and make some new friends. I am happy to report that I succeeded on two of those fronts. I have met some wonderful people in Las Vegas and really like my studio.

On your connections:

I’ve never considered the people I know to be connections, which may explain my career. I will admit though to regularly receiving free drinks at Toot’s Little Honky Tonk in Knoxville, Tennessee. Abby and I also get ridiculously large “shots” here at Davy’s Locker.

On casino executives and the media:

I’ve never seen a casino executive in person but I really like the photographs of them I see in magazines. Does that answer both parts of this question?

The popularity of poker:

I can’t speak to its popularity because I’ve never been interested. I also think it causes too many stupid tattoos of spades and vanity license plates. I saw one yesterday that said “P.I.M.P: Poker is my passion”. I rest my case.

What you’ll miss most about Las Vegas:

I will miss my friends more than anything, but I will also miss all of the strange and magical aspects that come with living in this city: the ambient noise from the slot machines inside a casino that I hear on my way to the movies or out to dinner, buying a bottle of Vodka at 4 AM in the grocery store, the way the color of the sky above my apartment changes nightly depending upon the casinos, being surrounded by the desert…

If you're going to miss the Eureka, his [Dave Hickey's] favorite neighborhood casino:

I’ve never been there. Abby and I prefer going to the Orleans for the movies and Gold Coast for bowling and bingo. We have gambled a grand total of maybe 50 dollars since 2006 and that total includes Bingo. I do like that there is such a thing as a neighborhood casino though.

What you won’t miss about Las Vegas:

Ed Hardy!

What that last class at UNLV was:

I don’t know that I can speak to this question because I am not affiliated with the university in any way. Abby is still submitting paperwork three months after she graduated, so maybe I can answer that question when she is done.

What you will be doing at the [University of Tennessee]:

I will be teaching Graduate and Undergraduate Painting and Drawing. I’ve not quite figured out exactly what I want to cover yet but I imagine that it would be hard for my experiences in Vegas not to influence what and how I teach.

If you're ready to start over:

This implies that I would be stopping something or doing something different. In Knoxville I imagine my life will be very similar to the way it is now, just with less sunscreen and no Friday night trivia.

What kind of city you're leaving behind:

I think this city attracts and cultivates resilient people. I have seen a lot of desperation and insecurity since I have been here but I can’t help but hold out hope that the people will find a way. The other option is…
If CityCenter was the right answer:

I don’t really know if I am qualified to answer this question, but my sense is that it is a disaster. This is also coming from a person who much prefers seeing the mystic falls at Sam’s Town and the aquarium/pool at the Golden Nugget. For people who are less attracted to sparkly things and animatronics, it might just be the ticket. I can’t help but think it would be great if there were a staged disaster that happened there every evening like at Treasure Island- something to the effect of the movie Cloverfield or Godzilla. Now that would be fun.

What’s to fear about Las Vegas in the future:

See above image.

What Las Vegas is going to miss about you:

I think that Las Vegas has bigger things to miss than me, like Prince’s old club or that giant Michael Jackson robot that was rumored to be built a few years back.

Exit interview Part 1: Brian Porray

2010-06-26T18:06:00.000-07:00

Everything shuts down in Vegas over the summer and people leave. Sadly for Las Vegas, Dave Hickey and Libby Lumpkin are not the only people leaving this year with no return plans. Brian Porray just finished his MFA at UNLV and will be departing with his partner Kyla Hansen. Kyla will be pursuing her graduate work at Claremont College in the fall, and we wish them the best. Abby Coe also leaves UNLV this year, and she and her partner John Bissonette are returning to Knoxville where John will be teaching at University of Tennessee Knoxville.

So, with everybody heading out, we took this opportunity to ask all of these artists to weigh in on the same questions that Vegas Seven posed to Dave Hickey. One last look at Sin City and what it means to be deeply invested in the arts, the community, and the amazing hot mess that is Las Vegas. We begin with Brian Porray, whose exhibition Compound Fracture opens July 1 at Trifecta Gallery.

Your original Las Vegas dream:

I was the lead singer of a punk band when I was 16, so my original Vegas dream was probably something about hoping to open for Pegboy at The Huntridge. Never happened.

On your connections:

I used the "drug rehab" approach to grad school: no one has any intention of really kicking anything - you just float and try to have a good time in spite of your circumstances...meanwhile, you make as many connections as possible so that when you finally get out you're set. It worked perfectly.

On casino executives and the media:

I don't know any casino executives, which is fine with me. My grandfather worked for Cashman in the 60's selling heavy equipment and he knew Moe Dalitz, which is pretty much tops in my book, but it's just not that cool anymore...it's like comparing The Misfits to Danzig.

Anyway, the media here has been good to me, I don't have much to complain about. At the end of the day Las Vegas is a small town - and the press are like fish, if you give them a bigger bowl.......
I'm not sure I understand the question.

The popularity of poker:

In Virginia City there is a place called the Delta Saloon. Inside is an infamous faro table dubbed the "Suicide Table" because (as rumor has it) at some point during the late 1800's three successive owners of the saloon shot themselves at the table after losing their ass. That's the kind of story that makes living in the west so cool. The whole televised poker on ESPN thing is ridiculous in my opinion, and it lets all the air out of the tires.

If you're looking to get a drink in Virginia City I also recommend the Bucket of Blood.

What you’ll miss most about Las Vegas:
My family is here, and my studio is 25 feet from my bed.

If you're going to miss the Eureka, his [Dave Hickey's] favorite neighborhood casino:

No. We will miss Arizona Charlie's on Decatur. They have a great bingo hall and a painting by the escalator that I like to look at - I call it "The Stranger" and I highly recommend taking it in.

What you won’t miss about Las Vegas:

This is a terrible place to ride a bicycle - which says a lot about the community.

What that last class at UNLV was:

Were we supposed to be in class? Honestly, I spent 90% of graduate school alone in my studio. It was wonderful. All things considered, I had a really great time at UNLV - imagine that.

What you will be doing in [Claremont]:

Making paintings and walking my dog. I've lined up a big studio space with lots of light and I plan to spend a majority of my time there. I'm sharing it with two other painters who make good work that I like looking at, so I'm walking right into a community. Kyla will be busy with her work at school and I will be busy with my work at the studio, which sounds like a good time.

If you're ready to start over:
It's not so much starting over as moving forward, and yes, we are ready for that.

What kind of city you're leaving behind:

I love Las Vegas - I really do. It's still a transient place and I like that. Kyla and I aren't into staying put right now, and the culture of Vegas makes it an easy place to leave.

A buddy of mine makes architectural models of proposed projects in Las Vegas, I'll let him speculate on the future of the city. If I tried it would be loaded with sentiment.

Wasn't it Hickey who said that Vegas, like capitalism, absorbs its critiques?

If CityCenter was the right answer:

It's the answer we got. The theme of that one is "Real City" right? Whatever...

What’s to fear about Las Vegas in the future:

Weird Al Yankovic has sold over 12 million albums, so yeah, Vegas should be just fine.

What Las Vegas is going to miss about you:

Like I said, Vegas should be just fine.

Image: Brian's studio in Las Vegas, 2010.

Art School

2010-06-22T18:39:00.000-07:00

Here is Jen Graves' article for The Stranger on the state of art schools in Seattle. Her comments come in the wake of her exit interview with Michael Darling, who is leaving his position at Seattle Art Museum to head up curatorial programming at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Darling's podcast interview is here.

Image: Michael Darling, courtesy The Stranger.

4Culture and Las Vegas Arts Commission

2010-06-19T17:42:00.000-07:00

4Culture is Seattle's answer to the Las Vegas Arts Commission. Which is to say, like the local agency here, 4Culture strives to present artist opportunities to, well, artists. As they write,

Our new on-line Public Art Calls to Artists List is going strong and accessible to you at any time. Bookmark the calls page linked below and check it often to stay up-to-the-minute with all the new opportunities as they come in from fellow agencies. Subscribe to the Calls List to be the first to hear about our new 4Culture calls, and to receive these monthly reminders to check the list at www.4Culture.org.

This list compiled by Public Art 4Culture provides basic information about our current Public Art Calls to Artists as well as current public art opportunities from fellow agencies. Please note each Call may have specific eligibility requirements including geographic restrictions. If you would like to repost this list, please credit 4Culture.

RIP Sigmar Polke

2010-06-12T18:14:00.000-07:00

This text is lifted completely from Artforum.com, but it seems really important to note Polke's passing. He will be missed.

Sigmar Polke, one of Germany’s best-known artists, died last night from cancer at the age of sixty-nine, his dealer Erhard Klein said in a phone interview, according to Bloomberg’s Catherine Hickley. Polke, a painter, graphic artist, and photographer, was “one of the most important and most successful representatives of German contemporary art,” culture minister Bernd Neumann said in a statement. “He was a critical, ironic, and self-ironic observer of postwar history and its artistic commentators.”

Born in 1941 in eastern Germany, Polke emigrated to the west in 1953. He settled in Dusseldorf, where he studied at the Art Academy. In 1963, he founded the “Capitalist Realism” painting movement with Gerhard Richter and Konrad Lueg. The three artists mocked both the realist style that was the official art of the Soviet Union and the consumer-driven pop art of the west. Polke moved to Cologne in 1978.

He experimented with a wide range of styles, subject matter, and materials. In the 1970s, he concentrated on photography, returning to paint in the 1980s, when he produced abstract works created by chance through chemical reactions between paint and other products. In the last twenty years, he produced paintings focused on historical events and perceptions of them.

His work has been exhibited at London’s Royal Academy and Tate Modern, the museum Ludwig in Cologne, the Martin-Gropius-Bau and Hamburger Bahnhof museums in Berlin, New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the National Museum of Art in Osaka, and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, among others.

Image: Polke, Watchtower.

Interview with Erin Stellmon

2010-06-09T16:41:00.000-07:00

Stellmon's exhibition Reign of Glass is on view at CAC through July 20. Erin graciously donated her time recently to respond to a series of questions (via email) from John Bissonette and myself about her exhibition, Elvis, and the mutable nature of community.

Marc: Do you remember the first time you saw CityCenter and, more recently, the first time you went to visit?

Erin: I remember going to see the model of CityCenter at The Bellagio. I had seen some renderings on the local news before the model, but the model really made me think of George Romero’s last film Land of the Dead in which an all inclusive condo structure becomes more of a prison than a refuge when the zombies attack. The first time I made that comparison I was secretly thrilled to see it come to fruition.

The first time I actually walked through the CityCenter, my family was staying at Aria and I went to pick them up. Navigating into the core was next to impossible and no ones cell phones worked inside, so once we finally found each other after an hour, they begged me to take them out and away. I couldn’t go with at least a peek of their room and Crystals, and they reluctantly indulged me. I was really disappointed in how dated Aria already seemed, the decor feeling more than a decade old, but their room had some cool Jetson’s automation, and the bed was like a giant marshmallow, so the Pier One influences were easily forgiven.

As for Crystals, I had heard quite a few people describe it as an airport terminal in a negative way, but that is what I probably liked most about it initially. It was cold and empty and full of potential…it felt like a futuristic lair with a couple of natural elements thrown in to keep you from losing your sense of balance. After taking time in later visits to explore the entirety of City Center, Crystals comes the closest to my spaceship fantasy of what a sterile palace should feel like.

Marc: In an interview with 944 Magazine, Daniel Libeskind recently described his plan for Crystals [the mall at CityCenter located on The Strip] as being analogous to a jewel in the Center Strip, reflecting the Strip back onto itself and projecting outwards in numerous (and perhaps conflicting) ways. This question is a bit outside of the others perhaps, but as your recent work (intoned by the accompanying statement) offers a collective project designed to question CityCenter, are there any works at CityCenter that you feel are helping you in situating or negotiating or informing this type of critique? Is there a kinship in your approach to sculptural works by, say, Nancy Rubins or WET Design or Isa Genzken? And, as those works are located at CityCenter, do they share a privilege in their context for commenting on their location (locational identity)? Are they inside Liebskind's reflective surface?

Erin: I imagined the collaborative piece If You Lived Here You’d Be Home By Now to do just as Libeskind intended actually, but instead of it reflecting the Strip, to reflect the memories of visitors and residents of Vegas. It really is visually stunning to see the strip refracted in Crystals, but all in all, a giant broken mirror doesn’t have anything to offer intrinsically other than an inverted way of seeing things you’ve already seen. After a certain age (adolescence?) mirrors lose their “magic” and something more is desired. Those individual drawings in the collaborative piece are an offering to that desire.

As for the sculptural works at CityCenter, I do feel that they offer some sort of emotional identity to the place even though they come off as struggling to be noticed. Richard Long’s mud drawings “Circle of Life and Earth”, Maya Lin’s “Silver State”, Nancy Rubin’s “Big Pleasure Point” and Isa Genzken’s “Rose II” are so awesomely subversive in their effort to discuss nature, memory and touch within this corporate behemoth. Unfortunately it was as if the artists’ master plans were purposely squelched by their placement. Don’t get me wrong, it is nice to see some great art in Vegas without having to pay $20 inside of a casino, I just wish the pieces were given the reverence they deserve. It is as if there was a list of things to be checked to make a giant corporate home. Fountains? Check. Public art that you don’t have to see if you don’t want to? Check. Anyway, this is why I have tried to avoid talking about this subject…but the cat is out of the bag now (gee thanks Marc).

Marc: When reading the press descriptions of CityCenter, it immediately makes me think about Disney’s engineered city Celebration, Florida and the risks (and rewards?) of planned communities. How does this sense of community respond to the communal approach you’ve taking in designing your collaborative drawing project If You Lived Here You’d Be Home By Now for this exhibition? Are these notions of community intrinsically separate or conflated? Community and community? Us and them? All of us together now?

Erin: I like that “all of us together now?”, how really terrifying. Community should never be forced otherwise it resembles an institution. Thinking about it now, I suppose that is why I wanted there to be spaces between each of the drawings in the collaborative piece. I don’t feel you can have an active and flourishing community without each person being celebrated as an individual. The biggest problem I have with planned communities is the erasure of the individual by forced uniformity. I think that there is a safety felt by some when choices are limited and rules are posted and that is fine, those people are free to live in institutions, I just choose to fight that inclination a little bit harder.

Marc: Have you seen Viva Elvis and could you speak about Elvis’ role in discourse around CityCenter? Do you seem him as a symbol for the project?

Erin: Ha! This question is awesome. Honestly I haven’t seen it and have kind of dismissed it as a half-hearted attempt at bringing old Vegas to CityCenter. I guess the fact that they fired the original director could be compared to the project’s problems with construction, and the lack luster reviews of the show could represent the underwhelming critical opinions of CityCenter as a whole, but I’m not sure that I see Elvis’ life as a symbol for the project. I think a big reason why Elvis was so loved was due to his small town charm/naiveté and the CityCenter really has little of that authenticity. If anything, maybe that’s why they chose to “celebrate” him?

John: Planned communities? Awesome. I wonder if CityCenter is better suited to exist than Celebration, Florida because it is still more geared toward the transient. Living- really "living"- in city center seems like hell, or a horror movie to me.

Erin: That’s funny, did you see Romero’s Land of the Dead too? Or maybe Argento’s Suspiria?

John: Here are some thoughts, sort of questions: The concept of “home” is in my mind tied to a number of different things: belonging, nostalgia, memory, place, etc. Is this a concept that was born or nurtured in Las Vegas?

Erin: The concept of “home” has been present in my work for a long time, but I think one of the reasons I came to Vegas is to really investigate what that means/could mean. Like in the song New York, New York: “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere”, I felt that if I could feel at home in Las Vegas, the city of transience, I would never feel homeless again. Of course I have surrounded myself with not only locals, but people who really take advantage of the city and try to make the best of it. It is hard not to feel some sort of comfort when you are around such positivity and when it sucks, an understanding for how harsh this town can be.

The Neon Museum is an extremely positive place to work with awesome people coming from all over to embrace their memories of Vegas or what they would prefer it to still be like. Nostalgia can be a dangerous thing when it whitewashes things that shouldn’t be forgotten, but I think it helps people to feel part of a larger collective unconscious.

John: I tend to think that nostalgia is an interesting thing to consider in relation to Las Vegas. It would seem to me that the strip (and city center is an excellent example of this) is invested in the commodification and delivery of some form of nostalgia. We don’t visit New York New York because it is in any way.. NY, but rather we do because it reminds us of the place. Memory trumps actuality. It would seem to me that your installation of drawings functions in an oddly similar manner. Thoughts?

Erin: I was hoping the installation would function in a similar way, pointing out that memory has a intrinsic weight that shifts depending on it’s value. I made the rule that the artists could only use contour line, no shading, to represent their memory thinking that a series of line drawings would visually represent my idea in a cohesive way, but in the end I was happy to see some of them break the rule; having different visual weights worked with the idea of memory being intrinsically transient as well.

John: (I’m trying to avoid Baudrillard or Hickey, but am having trouble) I have always found the comments from people visiting the city like “do you really live here” to be particularly amusing and relevant to the condition of existing in this place. I wonder if notions of home and community are magnified in the minds of residents of Las Vegas because of the nature of the city.

Erin: I know. I love that people still think that everything exists on the strip and that UNLV is in a casino and that I live in the Bellagio….no wait, I guess I would live in Circus Circus probably…oooh! That is a potential Facebook quiz, but I digress….There is something special about the people that choose to live here I think. I was just talking to a friend that was visiting from New Orleans and he was explaining that moving there had squelched his feelings of wanderlust due to the many different worlds within that city. There are elements to Las Vegas that are similar, the separations of communities and lifestyles keep things interesting, and unlike a lot of other cities, there are a lot of free things to do and explore. (I’m not sure if this answers your question)

John: Despite its scale, is city center any different that other resorts in Las Vegas? I’ve read statements that it is not a themed resort but take a staunch opposition to that notion. It is the ultimate simulation, NYNY 2.0. Being inside of city center is like being in a comic book to me, the skewed perspective, the fleeting feeling of a metropolis. I find it spectacular in its inability to convince me, and maybe that is why I like it. (I think there is a question in there somewhere)

Erin: I think I feel similar, the place has a bunch of problems, but there are moments that are really cool, like the public parking structure with its dance club accents. My boyfriend Aaron went to the sportsbook in Aria (which he loved), and saw a gaggle of hoodlums skateboarding in front of Crystals. He said it warmed his heart…maybe the City Center has some potential yet!

A collaborative installation that is part of Erin Stellmon's exhibition "Reign of Glass" and is on view in the gallery through July 24th. The proceeds of most sales will generously be donated to the CAC. Describing the project, Erin has written,

It is impossible to build a city out of nothing. As much as it seems so, Las Vegas did not spring from the middle of the desert overnight. It was built on the impossible dreams of many both living and visiting here and survives as a town of memories (fuzzy as they may be) and extreme realities. I am striving to create a counter to this forced society that is CityCenter with a structure built of memory, touch, and community. For this installation I have asked artists that have lived here, live here currently, or have visited in the recent past, to participate by completing a simple black and white contour line drawing on an individually cut piece of archival paper that I supplied. Each artist had the option to either have their work donated (with proceeds going to the CAC, a 501-C3 non-profit), or to have them returned. The CAC has been a Las Vegas institution for over 20 years that feeds the community in numerous ways. I am hoping to help the CAC raise funding to keep its doors open and to help ensure its future growth.

CACBlog

Artist Talk Oct 5th 2011

Love Letter To The Arts Factory

Gacy Show at CAC Gallery

Contemporary Arts Center of Las Vegas Presents

Justin Favela - Congratulations!

Artist's Statements

Best of Show - 22nd Annual Juried Show - May 5th - June 18th

The CAC 22nd Annual Juried Show

Life Drawing Workshop

'Arts education stimulates their minds'

What else is damaged when schools have to cut cultural programs?

Our History

CAC’s ‘Blur’ will make you rub your eyes

Contemporary Arts Center Annual Juried Show May 5th - June 18

Thanks Vegas We Had A Great Turn Out For The Artist Reception - It's All A Blur

St. Patrick's Day - Artist Reception 6 pm CAC

Artist Talk - It's All A Blur - Artist talk at UNLV last night

An event that was hosted by San Francisco artist Tony Labat by Dale Hoyt

Artist Talk - It's All A Blur

Neon Lit - a very bright reading

Current CAC Member and Former CAC Board Member - Steven Spann

Poetry Night - Monday, March 21st

It's All A Blur - Special Talk To The Public On March 15th

Beginning March 15th "It's All A Blur" at the CAC

"Blanket Policy" by Tony Labat

East Side Projects

The Utopian diorama

The newest display at the CAC front window by PJ PerezOur thanks to PJ for his wonderful workMake sure you checkout the colorful addition

It's All A Blur - Coming to CAC March 15th

Evening Shots from The Art Factory and Lou Ruvo Center March 2011

New Window Display at CAC

Geolocation Final Week

Preview of Preview Thursday

Thanks Everyone for Such a Successful Movie Award Gala

83rd Movie Awards Gala Red Carpet 4pm Sunday, February 27, 2011

DJ Shoe will be performing at The CAC's 83rd Red-Carpet Gala!

Getting Ready at :

Come join in the Red Carpet Party

Drinks, Hors d'oeuvres, Silent Art Auction, Gift Bags

CAC 83rd Movie Awards Gala Silent Auction Artwork

CELEBRATE THE 31ST ANNUAL GOVERNOR’S ARTS AWARDS

OASIS 2011 CONFERENCE REGISTRATION OPEN!

Mary Warner: CAC Member Honored

GEOLOCATION at the CAC Until March 4th

Who Would You Vote For?

Actor in a Leading Role

CAC Movie Award Gala

83rd Award Night Gala - Red Carpet Party, Sunday February 27, 2011

Which will you vote for? Skip LA...Join CAC Las Vegas for the Award Night Gala

Best Picture

Professional Development Workshop - Verbal Communicaitons

83rd Movie Night Gala February 27th

Call For Work

Twitter as art

Contemporary Arts Center of Las Vegas Presents - 83rd Movie Night Gala

Guest blogger Laura Napier

project for a street corner (Fremont Street), 2010

Emily Kennerk At Donna Beam

NeonLit at CAC

Guest blogger Diane Dwyer

Flashlight turns 30

Off the Strip 2010 Las Vegas New Genres Festival

Interview with Aaron Sheppard

Aaron Sheppard in Desert Companion

Neon Lit at CAC

First Friday Call to Artists

Interview with Stephen Hendee

Using algae as biofuel lecture at Barrick Museum

UNLV Visiting Artist Series

Panel Discussion at Sci-Fi Center

Stephen Hendee at Marjorie Barrick Museum

Grindhouse!

Interview with Emily Kennerk

Community Counseling Center announces a call to artists for its Bite at the Museum 20th Anniversary Gala

Writer's Workshop and Reading at Sunrise Coffee

Exit interview Part 5: Kyla Hansen

Exit interview Part 4: Sean Schumacher

CACBeer

Exit interview Part 3: Abby Coe

The newest display at the CAC front window by PJ Perez
Our thanks to PJ for his wonderful work
Make sure you checkout the colorful addition

***project for a street corner (Fremont Street)*, 2010**