You've got a houseful of squatters, er, beloved friends and/or relatives, for the holidays. Fortunately, you live in a city never wanting for distractions. (And hey, what happens here, stays here, right?) But maybe they've had it with illusionists and losing money, or they're griping about what a cultural backwater you live in.
Optic Nerve hears you. The column that makes a business of poking its head into the Valley's corners of cultivation offers, as its gift to you, a highly selective, completely subjective list of artsy activities. Even if you're not tending to bored house guests, you might have the time now you've haven't had earlier to check out some of the following.
Manhattan, West Side
Yes, we actually have outposts of two cultural institutions from New York City. Contrary to what you or your guests might have heard, the Guggenheim did not close here, not completely. The Guggenheim-Hermitage is still kicking, thank you, in its splendid, little, Cor-Ten-steel gallery designed by Rem Koolhaas, at the Venetian. The current offering, From Renoir to Rothko, might be its weakest show yet, and it is filled with paintings exhibited in previous shows. But still, this breezy survey from impressionism into abstraction is studded with stunners by Manet, Monet, Van Gogh, Kandinsky, Picasso, Pollock and Motherwell.
Meanwhile, The Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art continues its showing of Treasures from Chatsworth: A British Noble House. This might sound like a stuffy historical slog, but in fact it presents a selection of remarkable artifacts collected by the Cavendish family, including a wall full of Old Master works on paper and paintings by Canaletto and Sir Joshua Reynolds.
While you're at it, the man who started it all, Steve Wynn, continues to exhibit a selection of The Wynn Collection, assembled with his wife Elaine, at the former Desert Inn. It features delights by impressionist and modern masters, including Picasso's "La Rêve" (1932), the painting for which the resort arising next door was originally going to be named. At $5 for locals, it's a pretty good deal, too.
Going Downtown
First Fridays are really the best times to check out the nascent arts district, including studios and galleries at The Arts Factory and the high-end lithography and antique presses at S2 Art Group, both on Charleston Boulevard, between Main Street and Casino Center. In the former, the Contemporary Arts Collective offers Manifesto of the Mundane, an examination of suburbia, and Dust Gallery has a selection of works from its stable of mostly local artists, many affiliated with UNLV. Just up the road, at 821 Las Vegas Blvd. N., the city's Reed Whipple Cultural Center Gallery presents Images From the Boneyard, in which old Vegas signs from the Neon Museum counterpoint clever photographs from the museum's "boneyard" collection.
Go to the Library
Seriously. Not only do most of Clark County's branch libraries hold exhibits of locals' work, it turns out they are impressive works themselves. This could make for a day's architectural tour, if you want to prove there's more to Vegas than the Strip. The flagship at 833 Las Vegas Blvd. N. was designed by Antoine Predock, and the Clark County Library at 1401 E. Flamingo Road was remodeled by Michael Graves. The Sahara West branch, 9600 West Sahara Ave., designed by Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle of Minneapolis, hosts the Las Vegas Art Museum.
But wait, there's more. Henderson's Paseo Verde Library, 280 S. Green Valley Pkwy., is a striking design by Dekker Perich Holmes Sabatini. And UNLV's Lied Library (disclosure: my wife works there), designed by Welles Pugsley and Leo A. Daly, might be the most attractive college library in the country. Certainly it's the landmark of the campus.
Chuck Twardy has written about art and architecture for several daily newspapers and for magazines such as Metropolis.