Art Is Beautiful: A Boombox, a Big Rig, and Light-Up Rabbits Take Over Las Vegas

So, you’ve checked out all the murals (well, maybe all) and spent some time at the Crime on Canvas exhibition, but you’re hearing about some other art pieces by some famous peeps—including a thing from Banksy’s Dismaland in England—sprinkled around the footprint of Life Is Beautiful. What’s the deal with these?

San Francisco Bay Area artist Laura Kimpton has worked in a multitude of media, including found objects, photography, paint and fashion. But she is best known, by her own admission, for her monumental word sculptures, which include permanent public installations in California, Texas, here in Nevada, and even China. Kimpton’s website says, “Her creativity stems from a desire to question traditional views on social interaction, therefore invoking through her art a reaction from her viewers that ultimately completes her projects.”

Heard about the giant light-up rabbits? That’s actually a traveling work by Amanda Parer known as Intrude. The highly awarded Australian works in smaller sculptures and paintings as well, but she has gotten the most notice for this dramatic, immersive series. Her own statement sums it up well: “In my artwork I aim to raise questions about the natural world and our place within it. I try to communicate this by using light and dark, humour and drama. I aim to entice my audience with beautiful, mostly feral creatures enlarged within their given habitats.”

Poetic Kinetics think big. Really big. The Los Angeles–based art group with backgrounds in film, concerts and circuses might be best known for their works Caterpillar’s Longing and Escape Velocity, both of which appeared at Coachella. Dynamic, interdisciplinary, and themed to their settings, Poetic Kinetics pieces reflect their ideal that “everything is a creative choice.” Their new piece for Life Is Beautiful is titled Proximate Sky.

Mike Ross is also an L.A. guy, but you probably didn’t hear about him until you saw his gravity-defying work Big Rig Jig as part of Banksy’s intentionally short-lived Dismaland family un-friendly theme park. Ross’ installations do not follow any specific motif or aesthetic, each truly independent of the other in message, materials and motivation. To quote Ross’ website: “The work serves both as a sculpture and an architectural space: visitors may enter the lower truck, climb through the tankers, and emerge to a viewing platform between the rear axles, forty-two feet in the air.” A Burning Man grant, crowdfunding, and artist Jeff Koons all contributed to make Big Rig Jig a reality. It now sits in what will be its permanent home, the Ferguson Motel on East Fremont. Pretty cool.

With a 120-foot-span fabric installation on the Las Vegas Motel, Crystal Wagner has created a rare outdoor piece. Based in Harrisburg, PA, Wagner has done large-scale installations all over the world, from Singapore to Grand Rapids, MI, collaborating with the Flaming Lips in Oklahoma, as well as Nike in L.A., and now planning forthcoming works in Poland and Italy. Her “contemporary interdisciplinary art” (we think that’s bar talk for “no rules”) blends color, texture, and asymmetric large-scale forms that are visceral, joyous, affirming, and full of strength.

Also, don’t miss three crazy art cars—the Boombox, the Space Wench, and Kalliope—which will be hosting DJs and other happenings, including those you create yourself. We’ll be watching.