Explore Art throughout Las Vegas
These hotels, museums, and displays will entice you with boundary-breaking color and creation.
The Cosmopolitan
The Cosmopolitan hotel is a walking art exhibit. Starting with digital art that moves and changes in the lobby to the funky collections and serious pieces throughout, the hotel offers a remarkable look at current art. You’ll want to spend a few moments, taking in the eight 15-foot digital columns in the lobby and the digital panel that spans the length of the front desk. Showing on these spaces is a library of digital art that moves continuously while creating an immersive theme.
The hotel’s “traditional” collection comprises hundreds of contemporary artworks by both established and emerging artists from all over the world with a mix of large-scale paintings, photography, mixed media works, sculptures, murals, and more. Artists featured include Maya Hayuk, Marilyn Minter, Rosemarie Fiore, Alex Da Corte, Jonathan Borofsky, Nicola Lopez, Siobhan Liddell, and Sylvia Hommert.
A collective and unusual art exhibit itself, the Cosmopolitan’s six Art-o-mat machines each dispenses a variety of original artwork, for sale. Created by artist Clark Whittington using repurposed cigarette vending machines, the Art-o-mats offer small works of art by more than 400 artist collaborators. Each piece of Art-o-mat art is boxed and wrapped in cellophane inside the recycled cigarette machine. Using the same mechanism found on original cigarette machines, the Art-o-mat has pull-knob dispensers to distribute the artwork.
Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art
Newly opened to celebrate the re-opening of the Bellagio resort, the “Always More: Collecting in Vegas” exhibit at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art is worthy of museum status. “Always More” displays a selection of artwork on loan from Las Vegas collectors as well as signature pieces from the MGM Resorts Art Collection. With some of the pieces being shown publicly for the first time, the works represent a cross-section of 20th-century and contemporary art from important artists including Diane Arbus, Ross Bleckner, Cecily Brown, George Condo, Takashi Murakami, James Nares, Helmut Newton, Pablo Picasso, Joyce Pensato, Richard Prince, Robert Rauschenberg, Kazuo Shiraga, Gary Simmons, Lorna Simpson, Rosemarie Trockel and Manolo Valdés.
Museum of Dream Space (MODS)
Art and technology meet at MODS to captivate all ages in a multi-media, interactive gallery that pushes the boundaries of the art experience. Digitally psychedelic, totally immersive, and innovative in a way rarely seen in the US, the Museum of Dream Space (MODS) was inspired by art design from Yahoi Kusama, a Japanese artist known for her creative infinity rooms. The six breathtaking spaces are filled with state-of-the-art technology and cutting-edge structural design. You can take home a memory of your visit with a photo that utilizes the digital art transformations on display here.
The Neon Museum
Las Vegas is proud of its own type of art, the art of neon. Initially a means of attracting people to roadside attractions and hotels, neon remains a staple of Las Vegas. As developments occurred and changes were made, many original neon pieces landed in what is called the neon boneyard, a repository for these priceless creations and now part of The Neon Museumdowntown. You’ll need to plan ahead for your visit here, especially if you want to do the evening tour when all the signs are lit up (and you definitely want to do that). Time slots are limited and tour groups are kept socially distanced and small. Your tour guide will explain the significance of each piece, its inspiration, and the role it played in Las Vegas history. The museum’s mission is the preservation of these neon treasures as significant pieces of art and history.
Seven Magic Mountains
Located ten miles south of Las Vegas, the playful and colorful Seven Magic Mountains is a site-specific art installation in conjunction with the Nevada Museum of Art. Swiss-born artist Ugo Rondinone, the creator, is well-known for his contemporary large-scale art sculptures. Here, Rondinone’s seven fluorescent towers are made of boulders stacked more than 30 feet high, looking like towering piles of painted marshmallows. Perfect for Instagrammers, the exhibit makes a striking contrast to the Mojave Desert landscape. The outdoor installation is on view through the end of 2021.
(©Meryl Pearlstein)
