KINK By Artist Karla Lagunas
Interview by Jorge Lara
Photos by Bailey Anderson (Bandy2.1)
VIM Magazine had the opportunity to interview Artist Karla Lagunas about her recent midway exhibition ‘Kink’ which opened in March of 2024 at Grant Hall Gallery and featured some impromptu activations.
The description of the exhibition was ‘breaking into this body like a new pair of boots. Exorcizing this rite.’ The exhibition was part of UNLV’s spring’s season which featured six solo exhibitions of artists exploring diverse mediums, themes, and identities.
Karla Lagunas is part of the three-year Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program at UNLV, a studio-based and research-focused program with an emphasis on creative practice, interdisciplinarity, community engagement, and professional development. Throughout the program students conduct practice and text-based research, presenting their work in studio visits, exhibitions, MFA Open Studios, and group critique with faculty, peers, visiting artists, curators, scholars, and community members.
At the culmination of the program, MFA candidates present a public solo thesis exhibition project at the Donna Beam Gallery their final semester. The Midway Exhibition is an advancement-to-candidacy degree requirement in which graduate students present a public, solo project in the Grant Hall Gallery during their second year in the program.
VIM: Tell us about your current exhibition KINK and how did it come about?
KARLA LAGUNAS: KIN(K) was a way for me to talk about the many convoluted ways I circumnavigate shame and access pleasure. "Kink" is simply a word to describe those rituals. Rituals like karaoke, tattooing, dancing, clowning around, and painting. I wanted to unify all those rituals in my work and therefore unify myself and my identity. KIN(K) was therefore a coming out - to family, chosen family and other "kin". By exposing myself and the ways I feel shame and pleasure, I was able to arrive as myself to my communities for the first time.
“KIN(K) was therefore a coming out - to family, chosen family and other “kin”. By exposing myself and the ways I feel shame and pleasure, I was able to arrive as myself to my communities for the first time. ”
VIM: What artists have inspired you through the years?
KARLA LAGUNAS: I am inspired by Eva Hesse, Xandra Ibarra, and Sam Gilliam. Very different artists, I know, but as an interdisiplinary artist, I feel different mediums require different inspirations. I also am inspired by local artists Adriana Chavez, Heidi Rider and Bailey Anderson.
VIM: What do you want to leave on people’s minds as they take in your exhibition? Thank you. We will be featuring more artists this year.
KARLA LAGUNAS: I want people to leave my exhibition with a desire and an acceptance for the fluidity between the dualities within them.
“I want people to leave my exhibition with a desire and an acceptance for the fluidity between the dualities within them.”
VIM: What’s next for you?
KARLA LAGUNAS: In addition to my thesis next spring, I am working on my biggest project yet. It will be a room covered in canvas floor to ceiling I will paint live in a series of performances as both tribute and parody of action painters. I won't disclose where just yet, but I will say it's a venue I'm really excited about. I'm looking forward to blurting out more details real soon.
ARTIST JEANNIE HUA: THE VIM MAGAZINE INTERVIEW
Interview and Photos by Jorge Lara
Las Vegas Artist Jeannie Hua current art exhibition ‘Traces And Tracings’ is featuring currently at CSN’s Charleston campus till April 22, 2023 with assistance from the Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. An artist reception is set for Wednesday, April 19 at 6pm.
VIM MAGAZINE : First of all congrats on being a recipient of a 2023 Nevada Arts Council Project Grant For Artists. Your project is your current solo exhibition, ‘Traces and Tracings.’ How did your exhibition come about? What inspired it and what do you hope people take from it?
JEANNIE HUA: There were a number of themes I’ve been working on. One was the question of history, the definition, the formation, the purpose, and dissemination of the discipline. I realized the legitimacy of the documentation and the recordation of events had to do with the hierarchy of perception. Those in power make history. History is not objective. History comprises of events recorded by victors, the conquerers, ones who colonize. But there’s always a ying to the yang. The yang is illuminated because it’s the sun, but the people of the ying remain under the shadow of history.
“But there’s always a ying to the yang. The yang is illuminated because it’s the sun, but the people of the ying remain under the shadow of history.”
Another theme I’ve expressed through art is allyship. The fact is, Asian American civil rights movement would be nowhere without the support of African Americans. For example, Frederick Douglass opposed restrictions on Chinese immigration; Ida B. Wells and Bishop Henry M. Turner opposed the colonization of the Philippines; Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. opposed the Vietnam War, especially when white soldiers wore KKK robes and carried the confederate flag in Vietnam to express their supremacy over Vietnamese people; and Reverend Jesse Jackson spoke out against the murder of Vincent Chin (murdered by out of work car workers blaming their job loss on the Japanese thinking Chin was Japanese). There’s been a history of allyship between the African American and Asian American communities over civil rights issues for hundreds of years.
The last theme I covered in my exhibit was my frame of mind during covid. I was thinking about Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. He recorded his teacher Socrates’s dialogue with Plato’s brother Glaucon. So the allegory is to imagine a group of people chained together inside an underground cave as prisoners. Behind the prisoners is a fire, and between the prisoners and the fire are moving puppets and real objects on a raised walkway with a low wall. The prisoners are unable to see behind them. As the prisoners look at the wall in front of them, they believe the shadows of objects cast by the moving figures are real. What would happen if one of the prisoner’s freed? Could that freed prisoner adjust to reality? What would happen if the freed prisoner returned to the cave to try to free the others? Socrates and Glaucon agreed that the prisoners would kill their rescuer since they wouldn’t want to leave the safety and comfort of their false world.
I felt like I was staring at the cave wall during my period of isolation. But unlike the prisoners, I knew what reality was but instead chose to remain affixed to watching shadows on the cave wall.
VIM MAGAZINE: You graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a MFA from the Low Residency program. How was it like going to school there and what art came from your attendance there?
JEANNIE HUA: I met an amazing assortment of artists at SAIC. I got to meet artists grounded in different disciplines such as sound, performance, video, digital, and social practice. Everyone was supportive of each other’s endeavors. There was a free thinking atmosphere which encouraged generous trading of ideas. The art I developed at the time gave rise to the works exhibited at CSN. I love the fact that my journey included a path out of state and lead me back to a place that I’m proud to call my home.
VIM MAGAZINE: You were born in Taiwan and moved to Cincinnati, Ohio at the age of 8. Did that move affect you in any way? How was it like growing up in Cincinnati?
JEANNIE HUA: There wasn’t a day that went by when I wasn’t called a “chink,” “gook,” “slant-eyed,” or “chopsticks” from the age of 8 to 18 when I finally escaped to Chicago where I went to college. A good day would be being called a racist epithet only once. The name calling wasn’t nearly as bad as the anticipation that tomorrow was going to be like today, to endure an unending litany of humiliating names.
I was reassured that in addition to being of an inferior race, I was also ugly and stupid since I didn’t know English when I first moved to America. I didn’t just experience racism from other children. Adults at commercial establishments would tell me to go to the back of the line when I’ve waited in line already so that white people would be served first. They say the best revenge is to live a good life. To this day, I go out of the way to make sure the people around me will never know what it’s like to be rejected and ridiculed for being themselves. I did that as a criminal defense attorney, and now my art expresses similar sentiments.
More info: www.jeanniehua.art
DIANE BUSH ‘THEY REAP WHILE WE SEW’ PROJECT PROMOTES FREE SPEECH THROUGH FABRIC ARTS
By Jorge Lara
American activist artist and photographer Diane Bush’ latest project ‘YOU REAP, WHILE WE SEW’ says her latest project is in pursuit of national accountability while promoting free speech through fiber arts. In her later years, Bush has embraced public art through public participation projects using fiber art (Yarn Bombing) and performance. "I think of myself as a problem solver that uses art (and humor) to get the job done,” Bush says.
Currently Diane is designing a piece that addresses the lost Secret Service text messages. Her previous project included creating fiber based works aimed at satirizing president Trump’s self-admitted sexual predatory behavior, called “Make a Merkin Great Again”.
Her current project is set to run up to the November elections on November 4. Diane is trying to get the word out before then and looking for people who are interested in participating.
“I make a new piece every week and I am expecting more submissions from around the country as the word gets out,” Diane adds.
Diane Olson-Bush was born in Buffalo, N.Y. At the age of 18, she emigrated to the U.K. with a draft dodger, in response to the Vietnam War. After living there for ten years and working as a documentary photographer, she returned to the U.S. to attend to her ailing parents. Once back in Buffalo, N.Y. she obtained her Masters Degree in Photography from the State University of New York at Buffalo by documenting local boxing gyms and billiard halls.
After graduating, she spent seven years as staff photographer at the local affiliate of the National Public Broadcasting and ABC-TV stations. At the same time, she pursued self-imposed artistic projects and established a non-profit public arts organization, “URBAN ART”.
Diane returned to academia by spending six years as the Coordinator of the Photography Department at a local two-year college just outside of Buffalo. While her students were winning numerous national awards and prizes, Diane was doing the same with her own professional and artistic work, through the generosity of such entities as Kodak, Polaroid, Women in Photography, Nikon, Ilford, the Royal Photographic Society, Friends of Photography (San Francisco), The Albright –Knox Art Gallery, and the United Nations.
Throughout her professional career, Diane has continued to exhibit her work in approximately 2-5 group shows per year, and has been exhibited and published locally, nationally, and internationally, including shows in Japan, China, Great Britain, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Spain, France, Switzerland, and Italy. Since her relocation to Las Vegas in 1997, she has been awarded 15 grants and a Fellowship from the Nevada Arts Council. In 2009 she became a U.S.A. Fellowship nominee. Diane continues to teach occasional photographic workshops and regularly contributes art and donations to Buffalo and Las Vegas based arts organizations.
Diane’s satirical and fine art imagery sampled from T.V. and other sources spans over 30 years, and includes videos, talking pictures, performance work, and stills.
Bush’s published 2005 monograph, WARHEADS contains images that satirize America’s news censorship of the Iraqi War, are more relevant now, than ever. These were created by shooting TV surfaces with a macro lens at obtuse angles and throwing bleach the resulting C-prints.
Diane is a past President and Director of the Contemporary Arts Center of Las Vegas where she lives with her artist husband, Steve Baskin, and Mookie the cat. Both she and her husband collect everything vintage but have very soft spot for anything mid-century, mod and psychedelic.
More info: YOU REAP, WHILE WE SEW
HERSTORY: A Solo Exhibition by Jana Cruder
HERSTORY is Jana Cruder's latest series of photographic conceptual narrative prints - set in the 1970s, an era not unlike today - an era of cultural awakening (and resistance) to the symbiotic relationship of existence.
Jana Cruder's latest fine art photographic narrative series HERSTORY is a panorama of candy-colored scenes. It's a look into the complexities of feminism, the tiresome and callow demands of the patriarchy, and the aftershock of relentless cultural programming.
In this series, we see our main character enter her sexual prime, and her biological clock is ticking. She is exploring liberation from cultural norms, and earning her own money while feeling disillusioned by the daily corruption, exploitation, and entrenched racism in her culture. She's feeling the pull of the expected domestic life, while trying to find the right relationship with puzzling capitalistic symbols of happiness. She starts an exploration into alternate realities and psychedelics. It all opens her and her comrades to possibilities far beyond what they were told to want. As she becomes more aware of the inner workings of the MANufactured world, she feels her reality polarize between her call to be active in the world and the potential of motherhood.
Featuring large framed photographic prints, newly released collector View-master Reels, and a cameo piece by Artist Joel Spencer.
Cruder’s work focuses on stills, motion & experiential productions for clients worldwide.
“Simply put, I love what I do and believe that we create our experiences here,” Cruder says via her official website at JanaCruder.com, “As I've evolved my vision and craft I have come to see myself as a visual artist, using the mediums of film and photography to craft emotionally charged experiences to communicate a feeling, message and tell stories. I'm passionate about inspiring creative thinking, the moving image, story telling the environment, the art of fashion, the unique people I meet and locations I get to travel to.”
Cruder’s work spans the globe, with content libraries, commercial, fashion, and editorial projects for clients including Adidas, MGM, The Venetian Properties, Fallon NY, Adidas, Brita Filters, American Airlines, APPLE, Google, People Magazine, Zip-Car, Harpers Bazaar, Time Inc., Maxim, ELLE China, Rodale, Essence, Discovery, OWN Network, Mens Health, Fitness Magazine and Tatler.
Her latest exhibition, produced by R. Cline Arts debuts with an artist reception at Soho Lofts on April 21. With tea and tarot on April 23 and a closing reception on May 6.
RSVP: HERSTORY - Solo Exhibition Jana Cruder
More Info: Official Website
Photojournalist Elsa Cantu’s Exhibition At Inside The “O” Of Love Debuts March 4
Photojournalist Elsa Cantu debuts a career spanning retrospective at Inside the “O” of Love at the Arts Factory on Friday, March 4, 2022. The photo exhibition will be a tribute to her 10 years of photojournalism work in Las Vegas. The night will also feature music by Robert Stokes.
The “O” of Love inside the Arts Factory at 101 E. Charleston is a art gallery owned and curated by Clarice Tara.
“Photo journalism
gave me
many opportunities, getting to know celebrities that I admire, (getting to) know them more; and of course opening more doors for myself in this field.”
Guillermo Del Toro by Elsa Cantu
President Barack Obama by Elsa Cantu
“I started in 2011, with my Editor Gricelda (Guardian Express), “ Elsa stated, “my first assignment was Obama’s campaign and from there a lot of conventions, concerts, red carpets, interviews.”
“My favorite moments were interviewing Salma Hayek (at Cinemacon), Guillermo del Toro (at CES convention) and a press conference for Tim Burton at the Lost Vegas at Neon Museum exhibition” Elsa Cantu added. “Photojournalism gave me many opportunities getting to know celebrities that I admire, (getting to) know them more and of course opening more doors for myself in this field.”
A closing reception is set for March 25 featuring talks with Shahab Zargari of GC Records and Jorge Lara, Editor In Chief of VIM Magazine.
“Elsa’s work captures the essence of art and artists, Shahab Zargari commented about Elsa Cantu. “She makes a difficult job seem effortless. Easily one of the best event photographers in Vegas.”
“Elsa’s work captures the essence of art and artists”
”Elsa Cantu has accomplished so much in just these last couple of years. Always with camera in hand at press conferences and high profile events,” Jorge Lara of VIM Magazine stated,
”She photographed iconic alternative Japanese rock band Shonen Knife for VIM Magazine a couple years back and showed them rocking at one of the last concerts at the Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas,” Jorge added, “ I look forward to talking about Elsa Cantu and her influence on local photojournalism at the closing reception of her exhibition.”
More info: Elsa Cantu
Photo by Elsa Cantu
Penelope Cruz by Elsa Cantu
Photo by Elsa Cantu
Photo by Elsa Cantu
Photo by Elsa Cantu
Takashi Murakami: Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow and This Is Not America’s Flag
Two new special exhibitions, Takashi Murakami: Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow and This Is Not America's Flag, will open May 21, 2022 and run through September 25, 2022.
The expansive artistic universe of Takashi Murakami, one of the most widely recognized artists working today, will be on view in the artist’s first solo exhibition at The Broad. The exhibition will feature 18 works created throughout his career and new immersive environments developed in tandem with the artist and his studio, Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd.
Presenting works from over twenty artists including Laura Aguilar, Nicole Eisenman, Jeffrey Gibson, David Hammons, Alfredo Jaar, Jasper Johns, and Hank Willis Thomas, This Is Not America's Flag will spotlight artists confronting the complexity and contradictions of national identity.
Timed tickets will be released on Friday, April 15, at 10 a.m. PT and include access to both exhibitions, as well as same-day general admission to The Broad’s third floor galleries, which feature a changing selection of works from the Broad collection.
More info: The Broad
Jessica The Nudist Painter, Rommel Lozano, and Jorge Lara Feature At The Taverna Costera
For January 2022 Taverna Costera is featuring Rommel Lozano (@luminousdreamart), Jessica The Nudist Painter (@thenudistpainter), and Jorge Lara (@jorge_lara_photography). The art is curated by Gina Bobina.
The Artist reception will be Thursday, Preview Thursday, January 6, 2022 from 5 -8 pm.
Artist Jessica The Nudist Painter recently got her work accepted to the Intergalactic Open at the Shockboxx Project in Hermosa Beach. She’s previously painted live at Happy Earth Market and has had her work feature at Saturation Gallery in Las Vegas. She had a pop up at Gallery 54.
From Jessica The Nudist Painter’s ‘PAINT’ Photoset (acrylic paint). Photographer: @rubenmartinezhair_photo
Artwork by Jessica The Nudist Painter
Artist Rommel Lozano is originally from Manila in the Philippines. He is a full-time Psychic Medium and Spiritual Adviser who got his Master Degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from San Diego State University. His work has previously featured At Taverna Costera.
Artwork by Rommel Lozano
Artwork by Rommel Lozano
Artist Jorge Lara is the Editor In Chief and founder of VIM Magazine. He has previously covered and photographed bands Stone Temple Pilots and Greta Van Fleet for the magazine. He is the former Executive Director and founder of the Las Vegas Poets Organization and previously served as Program Director of AIGA Las Vegas. He has been featured in the Las Vegas Weekly, Vegas SEVEN, and the Review Journal and has appeared on KNPR’s State of Nevada and KUNV’s FutureSound radio shows.
Red And Blue by Jorge Lara Photography
Stone Temple Pilots by Jorge Lara for VIM Magazine.
There will be free samples of some of Chef Leo’s many new menu items and DJ Ikaika (@djikaika) will set the island vibe downstairs from 7pm. No cover.
Artists Kim Johnson, Robin Slonina, and Kat Anderson Feature At Taverna Costera
In this photo from left to right: Taverna Costera Curator Gina Bobina, Artist Robin Slonina, Artist Kim Johnson, Artist Kat Anderson, and Taverna Costera owner Jeff Hwang.
Artists Robin Slonina (@robinslonina), Kim Johnson (@strangedaysandstardust), and Kat Anderson (@katandersonart) are the featured artists for December 2021 at Taverna Costera. The art at Taverna Costera is curated by Gina Bobina who is also an artist.
Artists Kim Johnson and Kat Anderson mingle and talk during photoshoot at Taverna Costera.
Kim Johnson lives and works as a full time artist in Las Vegas, Nevada having earned a Bachelor of Fine Art degree from University of Nevada, Las Vegas and with decades of applied experience in studio art, gallery practice and connecting to community through art. Many of her works she says “hover between abstraction and figurative creating a new figurative style that expresses the unseen in the human psyche and spiritual mystery.”
“Part of my practice is to work beyond scale, tackling both large and small works and practicing not only in the studio but also creating large paintings outdoors and public spaces sharing with community,” Kim mentions on her website at www.strangedaysandstardust.com.
Kat Anderson is a native Las Vegan and former professional singer, she says she “creates fascinating work using a visual, intuitive artistic language expressing a perspective of the new age we live in.”
“I create interpretive and intuitive experiences in my work. There is no beginning or end in its context and each piece has layers of meaning and individual value both to me and those that view it, “ she mentions on her website www.katandersonartist.com. “Life is not mundane. Everything and everyone has the ability to be an inspiration. I want my art to be a joyful inspiration to others as it is to me."
Robin Slonina is a multi-disciplinary artist whose creative output includes body painting, mixed-media painting and mural painting, as well as indoor and outdoor sculpture and installation. Much of her work is interactive, inviting the viewer to experience the art rather than simply observe it. Robin is also a producer and judge on the hit body painting competition show Skin Wars, alongside RuPaul Charles, Rebecca Romijn and Craig Tracy, as well as Executive Producer and Judge of the live runway competition Battle of the Salons with LaGanja Estranja and Samuel Gutierrez.
Robin graduated from the School of the Art Institute in her native Chicago, then spent several years traveling the world with various visiting arts programs. But Las Vegas has been her adopted home for the past 15 years, where she founded Skin City Body Painting studio and is an active leader in the Vegas Arts District. She currently lives in downtown Vegas with her young son Leo and her husband Jimmy Slonina, who is an actor and performer with Cirque du Soleil.
Taverna Costera owner Jeff Hwang talks with artists and patrons at the restaurant.
Taverna Costera is a multi-use destination project that anchors the north end of the burgeoning Arts District, and includes a fine dining restaurant; a coffee shop; and a rooftop bar and live entertainment space offering sweeping views of the Las Vegas valley. Taverna Costera is the flagship fine dining restaurant introducing a new class of coastal Mediterranean fusion, with master chef Leo Herbias drawing inspiration from coastal French, Italian, Spanish, and Greek cuisines and beyond.
More info: Taverna Costera
DIA DE LOS MUERTOS GROUP ART EXHIBITION AT AVENUE 50 STUDIOS
SPIRITS | New Work by Raoul de la Sota. ”Spirits” will be on view along side Día de los Muertos: A Community Remembers, A Community Heals in the annex of Avenue 50 Studio, October 16-November 6 2021.
Avenue 50 Studio upcoming exhibition, Dia de los Muertos: A Community Remembers, A Community Heals and corresponding programming are designed to aid the community in embracing the process of mourning and coming to terms with the aftermath of COVID-19, ultimately generating joy and a celebration of life. The exhibition curated by Consuelo G. Flores is on view from October 16 - November 6, 2021
SPIRITS | New Work by Raoul de la Sota. ”Spirits” will be on view along side Día de los Muertos: A Community Remembers, A Community Heals in the annex of Avenue 50 Studio, October 16-November 6 2021.
.In a year that saw an unprecedented number of deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Black and Brown communities, including Native communities, suffered disproportionately high mortality rates, in part due to economic and cultural systematic racism, including the prevalence of multi-generational families living together in a single household. Thanks to the efficacy of the several vaccines, we now face the important undertaking of healing, not just physically from the disease, but also healing from the emotional pain of loss as we all grieve. Through this exhibition, our community will experience the restorative ways of processing grief through both traditional and modern artistic and literary public remembrances and discussions.
.
Exhibiting Artists:
Arnie Tecson, Beth Peterson, Carolyn Liesy, Cidne Hart, Cyndi Bemel, Edith de Guzman, Jolly, de Guzman, Isaac Tapia, Isabel Martinez, John Boudreau, Juan-Carlos Perez, Lana Maisonette, Joey Angel Montoya, Leticia Villa, Melora Walters, Paloma Domínguez, Rebecca Nabarrete, Robert Hale, Rosa Portillo, Rubí Hernandez, Victoria Arriola, and Yvonne Ruiz
SPIRITS | New Work by Raoul de la Sota. ”Spirits” will be on view along side Día de los Muertos: A Community Remembers, A Community Heals in the annex of Avenue 50 Studio, October 16-November 6 2021.
Avenue 50 Studio is supported in part by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission; the California Community Foundation; California Council for the Humanities; and in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
More info: www.avenue50studio.org
THE MARJORIE BARRICK MUSEUM OF ART PRESENTS FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES’ “UNTITLED” (L.A.) IN LAS VEGAS
Never before exhibited in Nevada, “Untitled” (L.A.) is one of the artist’s famous “candy-spill” artworks. Here, Felix Gonzalez-Torres finds beauty in the everyday by transforming green, cellophane-wrapped candies into an arrangement of color, form, and texture. Viewers are encouraged to take and eat the candy, creating a moment of engagement that is sensory and personal.
Gonzalez-Torres (1957 - 1996) was an openly gay artist at a time when LGBTQIA+ identities weren’t always publicly acknowledged. The intimate nature and fluctuating structure of his candy works is often interpreted as being related to tragedy in his private life. “Untitled” (L.A.) was created in 1991, the same year that his beloved partner Ross Laycock lost his life due to an AIDS-related illness.
The gradual depletion and replenishment of the candy-spills has been seen as metaphoric, seeming to represent the deterioration of a human body ravaged by illness. At the same time, it can be viewed as a type of immortality generated through ritual remembrance and continual recreation. However, Gonzalez-Torres avoided assigning explicit interpretations to his candy works, preferring them to remain available for everyone to experience in a personal way.
“Untitled” (L.A.) will remain at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art from September 2021 to September 2023. From September 24, 2021 to January 22, 2022 it will be on view in the group exhibition I Am Here. The artwork has previously appeared at institutions in Europe and the United States, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Dallas Museum of Art in Texas, Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst in Berlin, Germany, and the Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea in Galicia, Spain.
More Info: Barrick Museum
INTERVIEW: ARTIST JUAN MUNIZ PRESENTS "CHILD-ISH" SOLO EXHIBIT AT MACEOO AT THE ARIA HOTEL
Interview and article by Jorge Lara
The Aria Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas will be featuring Juan Muniz’ latest art at Maceoo on October 14.
Maceoo inside The Aria Hotel and Casino In Las Vegas will be hosting “Child-ish,” a solo gallery exhibition on October 14 featuring the works of Ninobuni World creator, Juan Muniz. Muniz will be debuting a collection of paintings focusing on the wonderment of the inner child that he states “sometimes we repress and ignore.”
The exhibition will be raising awareness and aid to FEAT of Southern Nevada to help kids with autism and their families.
Families for Effective Autism Treatment, Inc. (FEAT) is a non-profit organization of parents and professionals, designed to help families with children who have received the diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), including Autism, Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD), or Asperger’s Syndrome. The organization offers a support network where families can meet each other and discuss issues surrounding autism and treatment options.
Artist Juan Muniz is a visual artist and Illustrator, best known as creator of Felipe the Bunny. His list of past clients include UFC, Hard Rock Cafe, Zappos, Don Julio tequila, Golden State Warriors, Sugar Factory, Paris Hotels and Casino, Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino, the Venetian Hotel and Casino, and Insomniac/EDC. His art is located in galleries in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Taiwan.
Maceoo is a men’s clothing store that was founded by Mehdi Raad. Mehdi started his career in Telecom, helping to design everything from LTE networks around the globe, to devices for Apple. While working around the world, he had difficulty finding clothes that were appealing and comfortable. Inspired to make a change, he decided to code an algorithm based on a sample of 30 million people to fix this very issue. He knew that he would find a way to combine fashion and comfort. Maceoo began in San Diego at the Andaz Hotel where he met the owner of a little Italian factory who decided to join him in creating the very first shirt based on this innovative mathematical model.
VIM MAGAZINE: WHAT INSPIRED YOUR CURRENT ART EXHIBITION AT THE ARIA HOTEL?
JUAN MUNIZ: My current exhibition is called “child-ish,” the main inspiration is based on the new path I find my career, my life and my art going. It’s something I have always connected with even though I never truly understood it till now. Pablo Picasso said that every child is born an artist, the problem is remaining one once we grow up. We as a society tend to let our everyday life take over and that beautiful pure childlike wonderment gets left further and further behind. We forget what it was like to see each day with the eyes of a child full of curiosity and hope. Those lessons about love kindness and empathy and respect towards ones self we learned as children get overshadowed by bills, stress, work, and even our own anxiety and personal struggles. I feel that even if we can go back in our hearts and minds to those moments that rough is pure joy like when we were children even for 5 minutes we will allow ourselves to find that happiness we forgot was there. Why not allow our inner child to come out and play from time to time and be a little more child-ish. Children have an amazing imagination and I wanted to speak about not being held back by our own personal limitations of fear. A big part of this show will represent children living with autism as well. Meeting so many kids on the spectrum made me realize that they are all special and unique. No two are the same and they see the world with the same beauty as any other child. They might communicate it differently but isn’t that something we all do in general? I wanted to shine the light that at the end of the day we are were and still are children. And we should really allow ourselves the freedoms to enjoy that and in return maybe the world can start becoming a kinder gentler place even if just a little.
Artist Juan Muniz in a past news feature on Fox 5 news.
VIM MAGAZINE: WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO PICK MACEOO AS THE LOCATION FOR YOUR NEW EXHIBITION?
JUAN MUNIZ: The reason we chose Maceoo was pretty easy. A long time friend Ricci Lopez is very involved in the autism community and he has always been a supporter of my work. He partnered with Maceoo to open this beautiful new location inside the Aria along with Ricci’s very own line of perfume and colognes. After visiting him a few days after their grand opening I fell in love with the location. Such a beautiful venue. Ricci and I spoke about one day doing an event together and this was the perfect time and place. I wanted to make sure I was also giving back to the community especially the kids and I reached out to my friends FEAT of southern Nevada, an incredible charity that helps children with autism and their families. I spoke with them and invited them as our special guest for the event. I will also be partnering with a young man, 11 years old with autism to create a live painting alongside with me that will be auctioned off at the show with 100% of the proceeds going to the foundation.
VIM MAGAZINE: WHAT DO YOU WANT PEOPLE TO TAKE AWAY FROM THE EXHIBITION AND HOW LONG IS YOUR ART GOING TO BE FEATURED?
JUAN MUNIZ: It’s actually a one day event. 6-7pm soft opening for families of the foundation and 7-9 pm public. It’s all encompassing, almost like a sneak preview of this entire new collection of work that I’m currently creating, speaking of the essence of childlike moments that allows us to be free to be little kids again even for a moment. All while speaking about their feelings, emotions and struggles children go through with feelings and emotions they don’t completely understand and how to handle and manage them in a positive way. The next show will be a traveling show in the southwest region of the country speaking of the immigrant child coming from Mexico to the United States. Juggling two different worlds while remaining connected to your roots and becoming a citizen of a different country that sometimes it feels don’t want us. All while leading to the next show which speaks of different stories based on different cultures all over the world. I will be interviewing elder people from many different cultures and backgrounds and learning more about what it was like for them growing up, fears, worries, family, expressing their thoughts and creating a unique piece based on everyones different story.
More info: “Child-ish” Solo Art Exhibition at Aria
MORE ART:
Ancient Future Exhibition at Awa Oasia in L.A.
ANCIENT FUTURE is a group art exhibition focusing on multidimensional expression and ceremonial performance. The immersive art exhibition at Awa Oasia will include over 40 unique artists and is set to include an InvocationPanels on the Future Art (NFTs, Crypto & Monetization).
The exhibition will showcase the art of music, dance, technology and business with an interactive group experience, digital art displays, healing modalities, and delicious tonics and nourishing foods. The event will include a fundraiser for their in-house 501c3s - Nourishing those experiencing homelessness and conscious children education.
Ancient Future is curated by Future Eyes with immersive experiences by AWA Oasia and Play Collaborative Arts. AWA Oasia is a Holistic Cultural Center for Entertainment and the Arts. They are focused on curating experiences for transformation, bridging communities, supporting the arts and networking visionaries for positive impact.
More info: www.FutureEyes.com
A Beauteous Tree: Margaret Fuller's Femality
The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art and the UNLV Jean Nidetch CARE Center presents A Beauteous Tree: Margaret Fuller’s Femality. Curated by Jenessa Kenway, a doctoral candidate in literature at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, this exhibition illuminates the under-studied nineteenth-century author Margaret Fuller’s concept of “femality” by pairing artworks from the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art’s permanent collection with quotes from Fuller and other feminist writers. A Beauteous Tree includes work by Las Vegas artist Lolita Develay, along with a series of contemporary artists’ self-portraits inspired by Fuller’s writings. Visitors will be able to take part in an interactive activity that invites them to explore Fuller’s expansive ideas about gender by visualizing themselves as trees. READ MORE
Support for this exhibition is provided by the UNLV Jean Nidetch CARE Center, a Nevada Humanities Project Grant, and the WESTAF Regional Arts Resilience Fund, a relief grant developed in partnership with The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support arts organizations in the 13-state western region during the COVID-19 pandemic.
More info: Barrick Museum
The Broad Reopens May 26 With Works From Jean-Michael Basquiat, Roy Lichtenstein, and Andy Warhol
The Broad Museum in Los Angeles will reopen to the public on May 26. Ticket reservations will begin on May 12 at 10 a.m. PST. The reopening will include new, single-artist presentations in the sky lit third floor galleries and a free, new collection exhibition in the first floor galleries.
The Broad Museum in Los Angeles will reopen to the public on May 26. Ticket reservations will begin on May 12 at 10 a.m. PST. The reopening will include new, single-artist presentations in the sky lit third floor galleries and a free, new collection exhibition in the first floor galleries.
The single artist presentations in the third floor galleries include Jean-Michel Basquiat with all thirteen works by the artist in the Broad collection, three on view for the first time; a mini-survey from the collection's extraordinary holdings of Roy Lichtenstein, nearly half of the works on view for the first time; nine artworks by Kara Walker, including video, works on paper, and two new acquisitions; and a gallery devoted to Andy Warhol.
More info: The Broad
Sierra Slentz: Marking Time
Every evening since the beginning of the pandemic shutdown in March 2020, Slentz has created one new 4 x 4 inch clay form in response to the thoughts and emotions that have affected her during the day. This exhibition marks the debut of the complete series of 365 forms. Installed in a grid that covers an entire wall of the Barrick Museum’s East Gallery.
The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art presents Marking Time, an exhibition of ceramic sculpture by Las Vegas artist Sierra Slentz. Every evening since the beginning of the pandemic shutdown in March 2020, Slentz has created one new 4 x 4 inch clay form in response to the thoughts and emotions that have affected her during the day. This exhibition marks the debut of the complete series of 365 forms. Installed in a grid that covers an entire wall of the Barrick Museum’s East Gallery, the ceramic sculptures come together to suggest a day-by-day visual journal measuring the rituals, discoveries, and challenges of a year shaped by COVID-19.
Audiences who encountered Slentz’s previous sculptural “diary” in the windows of Las Vegas City Hall in late 2019 or the early months of 2020 will notice that Covid has changed her method of measuring time. Where the previous series reflected the artist’s outdoor journeys on foot, this series is characterized by her attention to the indoor life of the shutdown, a time of reflection and confinement permeated by information from the wider world filtering in through the internet. Slentz notes that her daily thoughts were often influenced by news headlines. Where the sculptures in her earlier series were often embellished with materials from the environment, such as stones and rabbit fur, the works in Marking Time are intentionally focused on the expressiveness of pure clay and glaze.
Originally trained as a painter, Slentz has paid attention to the painterly potential of three-dimensional surface and form. She relishes the suspended fluidity of dried clay slip, and the contrast between protruding areas of mass that catch the light while other areas create shadow. Noticing that people under the shutdown became more resourceful, more conscious of waste, she decided not to throw away sculptures that broke during the creative process. Instead she drilled holes in the clay and stitched the pieces back together, adding the accidental breakage to her visual diary.
By making her reaction to the pandemic so clearly visible, Slentz invites us to reflect on the journeys we’ve gone through over the past year. Did our experiences look like hers? How were they different? “If clay has sustained her,” the viewer might ask themselves, “then what has sustained me? How have I measured time?”
Sierra Slentz is a mother, visual artist, and educator who uses ceramic objects and installations to explore the persistence of human intervention and humanity’s unintentional mark on the landscape. Trained as a photographer and interdisciplinary artist, she earned her BFA from Sierra Nevada College in 1997 and her MFA from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2001. Her practice is informed by her interest in geological formations, archeological finds, and her time spent in the desert observing life cycles and urban sprawl. Slentz’s work is part of the permanent collection at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. She has exhibited at venues across Southern Nevada, including Las Vegas City Hall and Core Contemporary, Las Vegas. Born in Laguna Beach, CA, she currently lives and works in Downtown Las Vegas. The artist would like to thank her family and friends, a.k.a. her quarantine crew, for their support and encouragement over the past year.
Support for this exhibition is provided by the WESTAF Regional Arts Resilience Fund, a relief grant developed in partnership with The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support arts organizations in the 13-state western region during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The exhibition runs from April 19 - July 9, 2021. Entry to the museum is free. Please see the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art website to read our safety guidelines and make a timed reservation before you visit.
To make an appointment visit Eventbrite. The Barrick Museum of Art is open to the public Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., by appointment. Please reserve your spot to see one of our current exhibitions. Please note that for the safety of our community, all visitors are required to wear a face-covering and maintain social distance from others.
A Drawing A Day: Curated by Emmanuel Muñoz
The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art and the UNLV Office of Undergraduate Research present A Drawing a Day, a group exhibition documenting the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic through the work of twenty-two artists
The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art and the UNLV Office of Undergraduate Research present A Drawing a Day, a group exhibition documenting the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic through the work of twenty-two artists. Curated by Emmanuel Muñoz, A Drawing A Day consists of over thirty artworks including drawings, sketches, collage, painting, and a musical instrument. Muñoz’s curation serves as a small but important sample of the more than 790 works of art submitted to the Barrick’s interactive online project, A Drawing a Day Keeps the Pandemic Away. Materials from the curator’s interviews with the artists will also be available for visitors to explore.
The project, which was launched soon after Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak issued a stay-at-home order in March 2020, offered a way for a newly isolated community to reconnect. Every day from March 18 through to April 30, 2020, the Barrick posted a unique prompt on its Instagram account (@unlvmuseum) and invited the community to respond by making works of art.
With no restrictions on age or experience level, the participants ranged from professional adult artists to children collaborating with their parents. Images of the artworks were shared online, creating an evolving digital gallery that reflected the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of its audience.
A Drawing a Day brings a selection of these artworks from the virtual world to the physicality of the gallery wall. Revisiting them one year after they were created, the exhibition presents them as evidence that art can help us continue to move forward when our questions about the path ahead of us become unanswerable. It intends to celebrate all of the artists, young and old, who helped us stay in touch during a time of crisis and isolation. As one of the artists, Jeff Musser states, “We didn’t know what was going on. Drawings weren’t going to solve the problem of the Coronavirus, but as far as something that people could reach for and aspire to, that’s something that we could all do as a community.”
The curator says “At its core, the goal for the show is not only to explore the influence art has on a community but to prove that its impact is important. It started as an online project and that was all that we intended at first, to create a space where people could find peace for a while. But after the incredible participation from people all over, we knew there was much more going on. The artists shown here are proof that art has a place in any conversation.”
A Drawing A Day features work by Sue Havens, Brent Holmes, Georgina Lewis, Daniel Magaña, Jeff Musser, Beverly Neas, Glenn Nowak, Kate Parnell, Christel Polkowski, Heidi Rider, Marianne Snow, Stephanie Sumler, and ten students from Pat Diskin Elementary School. A complete list of the artists who participated in A Drawing A Day Keeps The Pandemic Away, along with images of their artworks, can be found in the Museum’s online catalogs for the project.
Support for this exhibition is provided by the WESTAF Regional Arts Resilience Fund, a relief grant developed in partnership with The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support arts organizations in the 13-state western region during the COVID-19 pandemic. Support and funding also comes from the UNLV Office of Undergraduate Research, who help undergraduates in their efforts to discover, innovate, create, and experience research at UNLV.
To make an appointment visit Eventbrite. The Barrick Museum of Art is open to the public Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., by appointment. Please reserve your spot to see one of our current exhibitions Please note that for the safety of our community, all visitors are required to wear a face-covering and maintain social distance from others.
SUE HAVENS: CULL, Curated By Jason Lazarus at Marjorie Barrick Museum
The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art presents Sue Havens: Cull, an exhibition of new works by Florida-based artist Sue Havens, from April 19 to July 9, 2021. Cull is a mid-career survey and the first solo museum exhibition focused on Havens’ prolific production in two and three-dimensional works since 2016.
The artist's studio and son Wesley (2020).
The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art presents Sue Havens: Cull, an exhibition of new works by Florida-based artist Sue Havens, from April 19 to July 9, 2021. Cull is a mid-career survey and the first solo museum exhibition focused on Havens’ prolific production in two and three-dimensional works since 2016.
Anchoring both walls of the exhibition space is the public debut of a series of 22 x 30 inch paintings created from March 2020 to present. Curator Jason Lazarus describes these “pandemic paintings” as “a compressor, kettle, and prism” of the artist’s work from the past twenty years. Havens outlines her goal most simply as a question: “What is it to search for form?”
Each painting puts the viewer in confrontation and dialogue with what might be described as a head, vessel, figure, trophy, or container, backgrounded by shifting, layered fields of color and marks that recede, move forward, or begin to permeate the vessel itself.
Occupying the floor space, a plinth supports new ceramic work from the past five years that traces wide experimentation with ceramic vessel structure, color logic, and surface, all while maintaining a thread of forms that make physical these same figures in real space. Yet, as the viewer moves around them, they relentlessly reconfigure themselves depending on the viewer's perspective.
Already partly developed in March 2020 when the pandemic shutdown struck, the exhibition had to be reimagined as the artist watched her work respond to the new reality. “The world went flat,” Havens recalls. “Things condensed, flattened to 2D. I felt as if I was trying to obsessively carve away, dig away to find a form, frustrated.”
Through the parallel threads of ceramics made over the years and pandemic paintings made over recent months, Cull continues an ongoing collapse and expansion between two and three dimensions using her vessel-figures as her shape-shifting muse.
As the artist states, “These things were made with discovery as intention, not to illustrate an idea. I am still not sure what they are. But the fact that they were made in this confusing, unsure, fear-based politically insane time, I think, is perhaps, somehow, there. It has to be. Even the record of a series of lines is a record of a hand which has an intention to steady itself...”
The exhibition is curated by Jason Lazarus, a Florida-based artist, curator, and educator whose work explores vision and visibility.
Support for this exhibition was provided in part, by the University of South Florida Research & Innovation Internal Awards Program under The Creative Scholarship Award and the University of South Florida College of The Arts Research Grant.
Entry to the museum is free. Please see the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art website to read about their safety guidelines and make a timed reservation before you visit.
The Barrick Museum of Art is open to the public Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., by appointment. All visitors are required to wear a face-covering and maintain social distance from others.
Tish Markley and Adam Turl Bring Their Art To Core Contemporary March 25th
“The New Culture” exhibition set to launch March 25th at Core Contemporary is bringing together artists from all walks of life. Among those Artists are Tish Markley and Adam Turl whose studio resides at Downtown Spaces. Together they serve as editors for Locust Review and Red Wedge Magazine. Turl is currently working with Tish Markley on the Born Again Labor Museum Project.
Artists Tish Markley and Adam Turl
Tish Markley is an artist and writer from rural Central Illinois living in Las Vegas. Growing up they had a pet cow named Bob – named after an auctioneer at the sale barn. Markley beat up homophobes in high school. They literally once owned a pair of rose-colored glasses but lost them. They are an editor at Locust Review and Red Wedge Magazine – and a partner with Adam Turl on the Born Again Labor Museum project.
Working on the Born Again Labor Museum (BALM) project (May 2019) in Las Vegas.
Adam Turl is an artist and writer from southern Illinois living in Las Vegas. He is art and design editor at Red Wedge Magazine, an underpaid adjunct at the University of Nevada – Las Vegas, and an editor at Locust Review. Turl’s most recent solo exhibition in Las Vegas was Revolt of the Swivel Chairs at the Cube Gallery in 2018. In 2016 he had a fellowship and residency at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris, France. Turl is currently working with Tish Markley on the Born Again Labor Museum project.
Website: www.evictedart.com
More info:
RSVP to the New Culture Exhibition here.
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Arranged Structures featuring Don Lyle and Rebekah Andrade at Priscilla Fowler Fine Art
Don Lyle and Rebekah Andrade present strong and intriguing abstraction in their show, Arranged Structures, through Feb 29 at Priscilla Fowler Fine Art Gallery.
The gallery will have music, food/wine/bar, and will be open until 11pm on First Friday February and be open Preview Thursday until 9pm.
Additionally the showroom will feature figurative work with new artist, Virginia Derryberry, showing a monumental multipart figure, and Brian Hoover (who will show with Katie Klemp in May) giving a tour through some charming magical realism pieces.
- The gallery is also partnering with their new neighbor, The Good Wolf (at Imperial and Commerce) to feature local artists Wade Shuster, Allison Streater, and others in their new shop.
- Artist Donald Corpier Starr, invites you to celebrate Black History Month with him and other artists. Donald is participating in an exhibit with several artists of different levels--Youth, Amateur and Professional--who will be showing selected works in a program presented by Commissioner Lawrence Weekly called "The Impact" Celebrating Black History Month.
More info: Priscilla Fowler Fine Art
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The Future Is Nakid Exhibition by NAKID and Future Eyes at Innerspace Gallery
Photography by Jorge Lara (@ximmortalizerx)
The Future is Nakid, a special curated art show by NAKID Magazine & Future Eyes on Friday, January 24 exhibited over 50 artists with 100% of the proceeds going to the creators.
The carefully selected group of artists presented their most creative, eclectic works inspired by the visions of FUTURE EYES crystals and curated to the thematic aesthetic: THE FUTURE IS NAKID.
The show featured images of the human body in multi-dimensions, exploring light and form in unique and abstract ways.
The aim was “to show that creative limit-pushing work in fashion, music, documentary, and all forms of photography can not only bring meaning and emotion but affect drive, activate, and show new ways to see the world around us, as well as remind us what our creatively is capable of.”
FEATURED ARTISTS:
Alex Kromer • Ana Noble • Angela Izzo • Aniko Szatmari • Ann Hadlock • Brandon Boyd • Carolyn Creasia • Carrie Lynn • Charis Kirchheimer • Chelsea Maker • Chris Swainston • Clayton Woodley • David Solorzano • Davis Ayers • Dina Lockridge • Dominoe Farris • Dustin Hollywood • Elena Kulikova • Elisabeth O'Rourke • Enrique Abed • Eric Lyle Lodwick • Erica Weitz • Erika Mugglin • Gaspar Marquez • Jenna Losavio • Jhovany Quiroz • Kyle Jeffrey • Lauren Ruth Ward • Loa Myst • Lorenzo Edwards • Machete • Madeline Northway • Maya David • Olivia Northstar • Paul Roustan • Peter Ruprecht • Pulp Fictionally • River Johnson • Rob Woodcox • Rosa Scipion • Rain Lucien Matheke • Sarah Elise Abramson • Scarlett Lillia • Shanley Kellis • Shannon Shiang • Stephen Rodan • Sunanda Bruno • Tatiana Camacho • Todd Weaver • Tomo Saito • Tori Nichole • Valya Karchevskaya • Yaarrohs • Yael Sky
Video Installation “Mystica Erotica” by Angela Izzo and Loa Myst.
The evening included a sensual installation by The Sensualist and a video / performance “Mystica Erotica” by Angela Izzo and Loa Myst.
Line for the exhibition went around the block and once you exited the exhibition attendees were not allowed back in.
Brandon Boyd of Incubus at Innerspace Gallery
Visit NAKID for more info: https://nakid.online/the-future-is-nakid/
From The Archives: 2012 Interview with Artist Alexander P. Huerta
In 1996 Alexander P. Huerta took his first trip to the art store for paints, brushes and canvas. In May of 2001 he made a conscience decision to consistantly give a truthful effort to his passion for creating art. From this intention came his "Great Art Adventure". Now in 2010, PeaceNart Studio is where he spends his days, being inspired, "Trying to inspire, meeting interesting, unique people and trying to evolve as an artist and a Human."
VIMMAG: You came from buying your first paints, brushes and canvas in 1996 to being the owner of the PeaceNArt Studio at the Arts Factory, within that time period you won 3rd place in
the Dish Inaugural Juried Exhibition Charity Fundraiser For Three Square of So. Nevada. Throughout that process, what has been the biggest lesson you have learned?
ALEXANDER P. HUERTA: The "Biggest Lesson" I Have Learned Is To Trust God. I believed in a higher power all my life, but, until I Trusted in that higher power, my life was not making progress, I was not evolving. In 2001 I was at "rock bottom, not caring about my existance, I had nothing but my thoughts. My thoughts led me to talking with my God. From that moment I have seen the "unfolding" of my "Art Adventure" ! Truth. My Art comes from the truest place. I have learned the Truth about Who I Am, What I Am, That I Am The Author of My Own Story ! I don't have let life happen, I create it !
VIMMAG: Your newest collection of artwork is called "Controlled Chaos Series 2," can you tell
us about the individual pieces and how it all came about?
ALEXANDER P. HUERTA: My "Controlled Chaos", Series 2 is the progression of a direction I started in early 2009. There are 26 pieces to series two.(series 1-26 also). I can tell you that every piece, of both sets, are about random thoughts.They start with spray paint, then drips of ink, grease pencil, ebony pencil, paint pen, collage, black sharpie, color pencil, help me ask my questions or give one of my theories about this thing we call 'life'.
One Day,"Preview Thursday", December 2009, my friend and fellow artist, Jessica Gallindo, brought me a piece of thin wood, This piece was about 50"x40" and had patterns of red spray paint on it. I broke it in half to condense it's size for storage. Later that day, I had spare time before the crowd of peolple arrived, so I pulled out the first piece and told myself I was going to "practice", Kind of doodle, not thinking to serious, just passing time. Those first thoughts went down and "Controlled Chaos" was brought into this world. The deepest, easiest flowing artwork that I have ever produced. The most creative outburst of my life.
VIMMAG: First Friday has come along way, what impact do you think your gallery and other venues have had on the local Vegas art scene?
ALEXANDER P. HUERTA: I'm a self-taught artist, so all my opinions have been formed though my engaging with humanity and my life's experience. Impact on the local art scene can happen for any person that gives a truth filled effort, started with the intention to give and not take. Our Las Vegas Arts District, is "My Art Scene" ! I am blessed to be able to go to PeaceNart Studio everyday that my God allows me to wake and live my life as an artist ! I have been doing that since Oct. 2008, in that time, I know of the personal inspiration that it givesto me and how in turn I get the opportunity to inspire others. I try to make an impact, one day at a time and one opportunity at a time. I try to let my every thought , every action lead me in a "Northerly Direction"(north principle) I trust in doing that I can make a positive impact on the city that has taught me about ArtNlife. ITrust My Art !
VIMMAG: Do you have a favorite or memorable collection of yours or of someone else?
ALEXANDER P. HUERTA: "Controlled Chaos" is the artwork that has effected me the most to this point. Not only because Artistic Designations, out of San Mateo, Ca., bought 12 pieces at one time and made me a national selling artist,, not because it's the first work I have done that has received this level of response and chatter. but because of the soul-filling experience of creating something that makes people think about Life, Love, God, and everything in between ! It's the most powerful, mature, stimulating artwork that has come out of my Soul !!
VIMMAG: What is next for Alexander P. Huerta?
ALEXANDER P. HUERTA: God only knows what's next for APH ! I can tell you that I trust in this thing called "Art". I can only wish to wake tomorrow, go to my little place in the universe,(PeaceNart Studio) that God has helped me find, and "Live My Dream" Again that day !!!! I so trust in what this Art Adventure has already offered to and for my life, I will hope to be a more Knowledgeable Artist and Human.
Alexander P. Huerta
Visual Artist
PeaceNart Studio
The "World Famous" Arts Factory
107 E. Charleston Blvd. #230
Las Vegas, Nv. 89104
‘There Is Nothing I Can Do Without You’ Closing Reception, Oct. 17
The closing reception for ‘There Is Nothing I Can Do Without You’ is Friday, October 17 at the 'Windows on First' at the Las Vegas City Hall. Artist Shan Michael Evans will be celebrating his installation. This event is free and open to the public.
More info: Facebook
Inaugural Mural Mecca Fest at New Orleans Square Launches October 11
Historic New Orleans Square in Sahara Commercial Center will be teaming with talented artists, scaffolding, and scissor lifts, as four murals come to life. The inaugural Mural Mecca Fest, hosted by the newly-formed Mural Mecca group, showcases a juried selection of four talented local artists: Sloane Siobhan, Tommy Vinci, Danny VonHorror and Izaac Zevalking. The 3 plus day, free-to-the-public, mural festival is founded upon the belief that art can make change and contribute to our community while also spotlighting to the world the artists who make Las Vegas their home. The festival is also a fundraising event benefiting Gender Justice Nevada, Sin Sity Sisters, the Las Vegas Youth Orchestra, and TINHIH's Alternative Peer Group, who all call New Orleans Square their home base, as well as the Las Vegas Rescue Mission.
While most of Mural Mecca's Mural Fest 2019 is free to enjoy, Attendees can opt to support even further by purchasing VIP Passes, granting access to a VIP Room, located in the Sin Sity Sisters "Nunnery" right across from one of the murals-in-progress. This unique and art-filled setting is a place to kick back, enjoy some refreshments, beverages, a little background music, and even some Mural Mecca "swag" with the 3-day pass. The festival is offering day passes or a 3-day pass, so you can decide how much time you want to spend as the murals take shape.
The 3-Day VIP Pass and the Friday VIP Pass also grants you access to the opening reception, from 7-8pm, on Friday night, October 11th which will be an opportunity to meet the four artists, meet the Mural Mecca founders, meet the Nonprofit Partners and sponsors.
Introducing the 2019 Mural Artists:
Sloane Siobhan @namesteloner
SLOANE SIOBHAN
Sloane Siobhan is a mixed media oil painter, tattoo artist, and muralist from Charlotte, North Carolina, now based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her work lifts the veil between fact and fiction, alluding to folklore/mythology, and intertwining abstract with realism by combining fluid color with portraiture. Siobhan received her BFA in Studio Art at Appalachian State University, and has been exhibited at the Harvey Gantt Center for African American Art + Culture. She was also one of five featured artists at the Mint Museum Uptown as a tribute to the John T. Biggers collection, showcased work at an art inspired dinner called Feast Your Eyes, and published in several articles such as Creative Loafing Charlotte, the Charlotte Observer, QC Metro, along with being mentioned in the NY Post. Sloane Siobhan is a 2 time winner of Art Battle-Las Vegas, inspired to serve the Clark County community with large scale murals. Siobhan is currently working on a new series that serves to elevate not only her body of work, but her spirit as well.
Tommy Vinci @tommyvinci
TOMMY VINCI
Tommy has been a working artist since high school, and has worked in many areas of the art field from animation to designing signs, murals and commission work on canvas and guitars. He also teaches painting and currently works part time teaching freshman visuals arts.
Danny VonHorror @handsomepantherdesigns
DANNY VONHORROR
Danny VonHorror has a young career of only 11 years. This self taught artist has taken his life experience, love for illustrating and rock and roll horror and cannabis has turned it into his own personal style and voice. Always trying to challenge himself with every piece, and pours his heart and soul into every painting. For Danny art was a saving grace, it gave him a new sense of purpose after becomes disabled due to illness. Now he paints to provide for his family and community and to feel useful once more. His mission is to show that anyone can do anything they put their mind to.
Isaac Zevalking @recycledpropaganda
ISAAC ZEVALKING ( Recycled Propoganda)
Recycled Propaganda is a socio-political artist acclaimed for his graphic exploration of a broad variety of contemporary issues from global history to current affairs. Its sole creative, Izaac Zevalking, is an English-American who was raised bicontinental in a family who highly valued creativity and outside-the-box thinking. This support and lifelong emphasis on ingenuity, coupled with a background in graphic design, bred an artistry which aims to encourage critical thought and nuance in an increasingly apathetic and polarized society.
More Info: www.muralmecca.com
Japanese Artist Yasuaki Onishi Presents Permeating Landscape At Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art
Photo Credit: vertical volume MI | 2016 | Polyethylene sheeting, fan, timer, others | Solo exhibition, “Vertical Volume”, The Mine, Dubai© Yasuaki Onishi
Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art presents Permeating Landscape, a solo exhibition by Japanese artist Yasuaki Onishi. The exhibition features two large-scale installations that reinterpret the principle elements of sculpture including mass, volume, motion and shape. Two-dimensional works of mixed media and photography also line the gallery walls, featuring Onishi’s signature techniques that utilize materials like glue, graphite, metallic powder, and aluminum. In conjunction with the exhibition, Onishi will also be the Artist Studio’s next visiting artist where he will produce a new sculpture that uses locally sourced materials and his unique adaptation of traditional metalwork and casting.
More info: MGM Resorts
