T12 + 7 Artists and Architects of CityCenter" help build excitement
A new exhibit at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art is showing just how many shades there are of “green.”
“12 + 7 Artists and Architects of CityCenter” features sculptures, drawings, paintings and models by 12 of the contemporary art stars and 7 of the master architects whose work will revolutionize the Las Vegas landscape when CityCenter, the largest “green” development in the United States, opens to the public in December 2009.
Organized in partnership with the CityCenter Fine Art Collection and its curatorial advisor Michele C Quinn, the exhibit showcases artwork featured in that collection. Included are works by Maya Lin, Jenny Holzer, Antony Gormley, Tony Cragg, Nancy Rubins, Peter Wegner, Richard Long and others, along with early sketches and architectural models of CityCenter’s soaring towers and retail and entertainment district designed by architects Pelli Clarke Pelli, Helmut Jahn, Studio Daniel Libeskind, Rafael Viñoly, Kohn Pedersen Fox, Foster + Partners and Rockwell Group.
The exhibit ,which will run through April 2010, illustrates the symbiotic relationship between the métiers of art and architecture by peeling back the layers of a particular artist’s work, exploring its architectural or spatial relationship. It also provides insight into how each architect’s design becomes an integral component of the overall urban vision of CityCenter.
Artworks on display include Claes Oldenburg’s “Typewriter Eraser” (1977); a tabletop version of the large-scale sculpture of the same name to be installed at CityCenter; Jenny Holzer’s “Four Corner: Truisms, Living” (2004); four electronic LED signs emblazoning selected phrases from her Truisms and Living series; Peter Wegner’s Day for Night, Night for Day (2009); a study of the solar- and lunar-themed paper installation to be featured at CityCenter, and Antony Gormley’s “Bodies in Space VIII” (2009), a sculpture of forged steel balls forming the molecular structure of a human body.
The exhibition also features early models of the Pelli-designed, 61-story ARIA Resort & Casino; drawings of Rafael Viñoly’s distinctive, crescent-shaped Vdara hotel, and drawings and models of the Kohn Pedersen Fox-designed Mandarin Oriental, the most prestigious urban dwelling in Las Vegas.
"CityCenter will be an international architectural achievement integrating the talents of world-renowned artists, architects and designers in one development; it will be a landmark of global taste and style,” said Jim Murren, Chairman and CEO of MGM MIRAGE. “The CityCenter Fine Art Collection will be the first initiative of its kind to merge public and corporate interests on this grand scale, and we’re proud to deliver this prominent force in contemporary art and culture to Las Vegas.”
- by Bobbie Katz, Las Vegas Reporter for HelloMetro
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