Monday, May 29, 2006

Art Galleries, Vintage Pinball Machines, Cheap Movies, and "Obstacle Art": Vegas Vacation

I did a quick hit & run of some of the Vegas art galleries Thursday. Dust Gallery, G C Gallery and the Funkhouse. The local art scene is continuing to build on previous successes, with the art event "First Friday" now averaging 7,000 people each month. I'm hoping to hit June's "First Friday", coming up on the 2nd.

The city’s City of 100 Murals project has loads of buildings sporting new art and the arts district is slowly filling with new galleries. One loss to the area is the collection of small apartment cottages currently home to artist Dray and his gallery Dray's Place. The lot just sold 3 million and is to be demolished for a 42-story condo building.

What a wonderful time-suck the Pinball Hall of Fame & Pinball Museumis. We just wandered the place for 10 minutes before even settling on the first game. The 3 tween girls wandering the aisles were funny: they were overheard saying, “Let’s go back to the movie theater, I don’t feel safe in here.” But the lure of the machines was too much and they were last seen playing a mechanical driving game unmolested by prowling pervs.

This was my second visit, the first time I played some games there, and not the last. Seriously good fun. You have to love a museum that doesn’t close until 11pm most weekdays and midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

We were almost late to the dollar theater, where we saw “American Dreamz.” The dark satire wasn’t as sharp as it could be, but definitely a well-spent $2.50

Sunday was spent with friends. The first part of the day we were playing Obstacle Art Golf at the Commerce Street Studios. The 12-hole course was $3 to play, fun to look at and a nice way to kill some time on a Sunday.

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And now for something completely different…

...getting to read the free Vegas weeklies reminds me I’ve forgotten how strange the city can be. We are trying to get an artist/art professor friend of our to call the number for the following ad, in the May 18th Las Vegas Weekly.

“Artist: Rare opportunity for female artist. Paid, F/T sculptor apprentice. Life size female nudes. Unusual medium. 2yr commitment. Salary + benefits, some travel. Spanish and/or Manderin helpful but not required. Possible live-in. Work is extremely dirty and brutal but is fulfilling& sexy, international, abeit obscure recognition.

Candidate: Female only, unencumbered, intellegent, focused, responsible, tough, broad artistic background. Comfortable w/ tool, dirt, nudity, deadlines. Must love the female form. Be studious, teachable, commited to artistic lifestyle. Age, race, orientation unimportant. Stamina & perserverance is. Call (702) 631-4456 (eves. Only for interview.) Portfolio Helpful"

1 comment:

Amber Rhea said...

I am so jealous of your vacation. But thanks for letting me live vicariously!