We don't talk about it much here in Vegas, but some people in the art world are troubled by the practice of museums like Boston's Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) renting artworks to a casino.
Scroll up for the picture, and then read below for Tyler Green's commentary.
http://blogs.artinfo.com/modernartnotes/2012/02/shared-without-comment/#more-21517
Do you agree with Green? Why or why not?
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ReplyDeleteThis makes me angry...as does any propagation of the stereotypes of Las Vegas.
ReplyDeleteHe says, "By renting paintings to a gallery in a Las Vegas casino, the MFA has put its treasures at risk." He then goes on to name an incident in 2004 that happened while I was working at Bellagio. The paintings were nowhere near the sun (as he implied they were) and the building was never hot (I should know as I was inside of it and there are emergency generators for just such an occasion.) The gallery may not have an accreditation for art, but I feel comfortable assuming that the fire/safety codes are at least as stringent in the casinos as many galleries/museums.
He goes on to talk about how it's inappropriate that Bellagio charges to see the art because Bellagio pays taxes. Huh?! It's okay for the museums to charge, but not Bellagio.
He says that these pieces should be loaned to "an accredited museum in Las Vegas, instead of renting them." Las Vegas doesn't have a facility and the casinos are the only ones with enough money to do something like rent them. I think the more relevant questions would be: Why did they have to be rented? Why weren't they loaned?
Apparently these pieces, and many others, should be "accessible to all," but only within certain parameters and not to Las Vegas. I guess we are all nothing but "babes of the Las Vegas strip"...even the school children?
Now knowing that the Bellagio gallery not being an accredited museum partly due to the fact there are no certain guidelines or protocol for safety regulations or maintenance for the art pieces. With that in mind, I figure that's partly the reason why the writer viewed our casinos as being not serious enough to carry any fine art pieces or at least be taken seriously to showcase any for that matter since Las Vegas market is seen as a money driven city for tourist attraction. I think a lot of the locals and students look at this issue differently exactly because we do not have a lot of fine art museums here. To me, I feel like it's a privilege to even have a gallery in a casino, though the idea of it seems pretty practical and almost a given that no fine art gallery would really survive as a stand alone in Las Vegas off strip. That being said, it isn't unusual for them to charge since it is surrounded within such a saturated environment with tourists and more meaningful footsteps that would appreciate and enjoy the presence of fine art within a casino. I think the obvious stereotypes of Las Vegas is just mainly dominated within the entertainment aspect of it, everything else seems to be pretty elusive and overlooked.
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