Visiting Artist talk by Laurens Tan
Earlier this month Zappos ushered in the Year of the Monkey with a Chinese New Year celebration and exhibit featuring works by Justin Favela, Miguel Hernandez and (very fittingly) Laurens Tan, an artist whose sculptures have explored the impact contemporary China has had on its people, along with its place and national identity in global culture.
The Holland-born Australian sculptor currently living in Beijing (following a 10-year stint “living as a pilgrim” in Las Vegas) will give a talk this week at the exhibit’s closing reception, touching on cultural identity and the artists’ role in society and their responses to the forces of globalism.
The interdisciplinary artist’s interest in relationships between design, culture, music and graphics have resulted in works that tap into past and present works in vernacular objects, particularly the three-wheeled vehicle known as the sanlunche. At the Z’Boutique at Zappos, his powerful 2011 work “Birth / Dan Sheng” is displayed alongside piñata works by Favela and a painting by Zappos’ resident artist Miguel Hernandez. February 25, 6 p.m., in the Zappos lobby, 400 Stewart Avenue.
Public art
Though predominantly utilitarian, pedestrian bridges can also be excellent projects for incorporating public art, with or without a massive budget, turning an industrial eyesore into an aesthetically pleasing functional landmark. This week three finalists selected for the Pedestrian Pebble Bridge at Pebble and Tamarus will present design proposals for the structure’s art enhancements. Sush Machida, Zak Ostrowski and Evgeni Vodenitcharov have all created works for the public and private landscape in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The community is invited to meet the artists and offer feedback at the unveiling, after which one of the artists will be awarded the contract for art on the bridge planned for completion in summer 2017. February 25, 6-8 p.m., Winchester Cultural Center, 3130 McLeod Drive, 702-455-7340.
Small Space Fest
The deadline is approaching for June’s Small Space Fest, in which Downtown’s Emergency Arts will be taken over by artists, performing and visual, in a building-wide celebration of the arts in which no nook or cranny of the former medical center will go unconsidered—an opera singer here, a sculpture there, an installation in the cupboard, etc. Or, as the site explains, “You, the artist, will install your art or yourself (!) into the hallways, stairwells, broom closets, tiny creepy room and every other obscure corner of this historic building.”
Presented by the artist group known as the Weft in the Weave Collective, the event is open to artists 18 and older, emerging and established, local and national. The application deadline is March 6 at midnight. For information, go to weftintheweave.com or email questions to [email protected].
