I don't go out very much in Vegas (sorry to those who had higher expectations for my exploits!), but when I do it's in absurd high/low style. The first image above is a painting by Tim Bavington, a Las Vegas local artist made good. I went to the opening tonight of his one man show at (from what I can tell from my limited knowledge of the city thus far) the only interesting art gallery in town. It was a pleasant evening of good art, a glass of wine, and what I hope was the first of many Dave Hickey stalking opportunities.
The image at the bottom is the set from the Celine Dion meets ex-Cirque Du Soleil director spectacular. A friend of a friend is the sound guy and invited us sit in the booth for free, so after the night's first healthy dose of culture we went in for more. I loved the electricity in Bavington's work but the sets for Celine's show at Ceasar's Palace were way more stimulating, and the mix of her down-home ad libbed chatter and the crew of dancers dressed as doves was divinely surreal.
