Fine Art

Mikayla Whitmore creates an unforgettable ‘mindscape’

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Think back to a memory, any memory. What does it look like in your head? Is it a crisp, high-def representation, doused in vivid hues, or is it an impressionistic haze of fleeting colors and soft lines? Probably the latter.

In her first residency show, When the Night Comes, Las Vegas artist (and Greenspun Media Group photographer) Mikayla Whitmore taps into memories and their deterioration at the Cosmopolitan’s P3Studio, projecting family photo slides—both found and personal—onto metallic mylar that casts jumbled images throughout the gallery. The effect recalls water ripples, thrown by a pool light onto a backyard wall. “I’m using these overlooked objects to create a mindscape,” Whitmore says. “How, if you closed your eyes, you would remember your memories.”

On the interactive side, Whitmore provides old books and magazines for visitors to collage and press into 2.5-inch buttons. Guests keep one, and the other is mounted on red velvet tapestry to create a color field. From afar the image is indistinct, but up close reveals tiny artworks—a YOLO goat, lady clowns and a skeleton labeled “buff.”

“Whether people get it, just seeing it has a visual impact,” Whitmore says. “A poetic beauty from objects that normally would be disregarded.”

When the Night Comes Through December 6; Wednesday & Thursday 5-10 p.m; Friday-Sunday, 6-11 p.m.; free. P3Studio, 702-698-7000. Reception December 3, 5-10 p.m.

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