Las Vegas has grown at an amazing speed in the past half-century which should give the reader some impression of the type of environment that existed in this desert location in 1950.  So it took some far-sighted art visionaries to plan what would later become the Las Vegas Art Museum.  The first step was to create the Las Vegas Art League which was soon housed at the City-owned Lorenzi park ranch house.

Here it remained, away from the gambling areas of the strip until 1974 when it was renamed the Las Vegas Art Museum (LVAM).  Unsurprisingly it was the first fine arts museum not just in Las Vegas but in the whole of Nevada.

Las Vegas Art Museum

In the mid-1990s the LVAM was ejected from it’s original home but offered a space in the planned Sahara Library and Fine Art Museum.  Completed in 1997, this is a striking building which certainly does justice to the art which is contained inside.  During this era it  had a short affiliation with the Smithsonian Institute in the early years and was able to display work by Rodin and Dale Chihuly.

Now to the sad news – the LVAM shut it’s doors early in 2009 citing a lack of resources.  Las Vegas as a whole has suffered as a result of the faltering global economy – even the gaming tables of the casinos have noticed a fall in tourist numbers and expenditure – so a reduction in the museums income is no great surprise.  The slightly cheerier news is that the LVAM hopes to reopen when the economy improves.

The Bellagio opened in 1998 and could perhaps be described as the first mega-casino resort.  It’s also possibly the most recognisable Las Vegas casino for those who’ve never been to the city in the desert.  It’s famous fountains are recognisable from the closing scenes of Ocean’s Eleven and the aforementioned Conservatory area featured Julia Roberts from the same film.

Other parts of the building also contain some astonishing pieces of art so if you don’t feel ready to pay to get into one of the exhibitions you don’t have to.  The lobby ceiling contains an amazing glass sculpture by American artist Dale Chihuly – it consists of 2000 hand-blown glass blossoms which are suspended 18 feet in the air.  Chihuly’s work can also be spotted in the Baccarat Lounge, the Conservatory and the Botanical Gardens.

Dale Chihuly's Bellagio Sculpture

Exhibitions are fairly regular at this casino and that’s a statement you don’t hear very often – it’s a little way off but from January next year there will be a Monet exhibition here.  Entitled Claude Monet: Impressions of Light, it will feature 20 works by the French Impressionist which will be loaned from Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts.  Also on display will be paintings by some of Monet’s contemporaries such as Eugene Louis Boudin, Camille Pissarro and Jean-Baptists-Camille Corot.

Perhaps an art gallery in a casino is not so strange – why should Blackjack and Poker players not appreciate art?  Why would those at the Roulette wheel or the Craps table not want to take in a Monet exhibition after some hours gambling?  Of course there’s no reason so next time you’re in Vegas check it out, even if you’re preference is something more profitable.

Soraya Runckel

Probably the best known outside Thailand is Soraya Runckel.  An impressive career spanning many years has enabled her to exhibit all over the world including London, the United States and China.  Born in Bangkok to well connected Thai parents, she showed an interest and aptitude for art from an early age, subsequently spending more than a decade studying Chinese brush painting in conjunction with watercolour techniques.

Soraya is the wife of a diplomat and her travels abroad tend to influence her work.  In particular her spells in the United States and Beijing are regarded as particularly important.

Soraya Runckel

Nikom U-aksorn

A man with a dream and the talent to match is Nikom U-aksorn.  Originally an electrical engineer, Nikom rose to become  a senior executive at the Thai Oil Refinery while maintaining the dream to become a full time painter.  Eventually the opportunity arose to take advantage of early retirement and Nikom could pursue his passion full time.

Nikom U-aksorn

Pornchai Lerttamasiri

Ranking alongside Soraya Runkel in terms of exhibiting abroad is Pornchai Lerttamasiri.  Pornchai was born and resides in Ayutthaya, the ancient city to the north of Bangkok which is filled with ancient ruins and other superb examples of Siamese architecture.  It’s not hard to imagine how an artist could be inspired by such incredible scenery.

Although a specialist in watercolour, Pornchai also uses other mediums and has been exhibiting internationally for at least the last decade, particularly in the United States.  One of Pornchai’s most interesting exhibitions was a display of paintgins using coffee as the medium in Oregon, U.S.

Pornchai Lerttamasiri

From 15th February 2012 to 15th July 2012, the Tate Britain will be hosting an exhibition entitled “Picasso and Modern British Art”.  The Tate has managed to organise the showing of more than 60 pieces of Picasso’s work which will be displayed alongside those of the British artists he influenced such as David Hockney, Henry Moore, Graham Sutherland, Duncan Grant, Wyndham Lewis, Ben Nicholson and Francis Bacon.  In total more than 150 superb pieces of work will be available.

Picasso 'Weeping Woman' 1937

Pablo Picasso first came to Britain in the early 20th century and his work was first viewed by the British public in 1910 but for the next few decades his exposure to the general public was through small exhibitions by dealers unafraid of how fascist Spain and the Spanish were viewed during this period.  There were two bigger exhibitions (Burlington Galleries in 1930 and the Whitechapel Gallery in 1939) which did host bigger exhibitions although the political fallout from these events continued for some time.

Picasso 'Guernica' 1937

Post Second World War, the Victoria and Albert Museum hosted a joint Picasso/Matisse exhibition which was visited by an estimated 160,000 people.  By this point Picasso had reached his pinnacle and completed his best work – Guernica is recognised as his peak – but it did serve to popularise the artist and influence a whole new generation of British artists.

So you’ve got six months in which to visit what maybe a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition at the Tate – don’t miss out.

12/1/12 – 14/4/12

The full title of this exhibition is Turner and His Contemporaries: The Hickman-Bacon Watercolour Collection and it’s draw is almost as much about the collecting abilities of Sir Hickman-Bacon as it is about the work being exhibited.  Well that’s not really true but Sir Hickman-Bacon (1855 – 1945) amassed a truly extraordinary collection of British watercolours in the early part of the 20th century.  It remains the largest collection still held in private hands and the most the wealthy landowner ever paid for a watercolour was £315 for a Turner.  In fact most of his acquisitions were had for much less; while completed Turners were selling for £1000+, Hickman-Bacon often paid around £10 for sketches and the like.

Boat and Red Buoy in Rough Seas

The largest room will in fact be devoted to J. M. W. Turner, demonstrating Hickman-Bacon’s attraction to Turner’s work at the time and also perhaps the ease with which it was possible to buy cheap Turner work before the First World War.

It’s not just about Turner though and the entire exhibition is a demonstration of the best of British watercolour from that period.  John Sell Cotman, John Robert Cozens and Peter DeWint are among those whose work will be shown and perhaps above all others Tom Girtin.  Girtin died when he was only 27 but was regarded by his contemporaries as the most talented of them all.  Turner said of him: “Had Tom Girtin lived, I should have starved.”

Thomas Girtin - View on the Wharfe

Hickman-Bacon was an interesting collector in that he rarely displayed his acquisitions, even privately.  Most of the time the work was kept stored away in dark places, meaning it dodged the exposure to daylight which can mar many of the great art works.  It’s a fantastically preserved collection for that reason and if Kendal seems like a long way to go, it will be worth it when you get there.

Hockney was born in Bradford, Yorkshire in 1937 and, after attending the Bradford College of Art, enrolled at the Royal College of Art in London in 1959.  It was here that he was taught by the notable American Pop Artist Ronald Brooks Kitaj who almost certainly influenced him along that path.  From this point on it was clear Hockney was an artist with no little talent, especially in the field of Pop Art, but his first pieces of work such as We Two Boys Together Clinging (1961) owed more to expressionism than to any other school.

We Two Boys Together Clinging, (1961)

David Hockney’s Pop Art career was kickstarted after he visited the United States in 1963, hooking up with Andy Warhol and presumably the other creative types who associated with Warhol during that period.  Not long after this visit he relocated to California where he began to create the series of paintings featuring swimming pools which could be argued define Hockney’s Pop Art work during this period.  The lively colours and realistic tone of the paintings marked Hockney out as an innovative Pop Art talent.

Picture of a Hollywood swimming pool (1964)

David Hockney’s career has been one of innovation, new mediums and a desire to understand new technologies and how they integrate with art.  He became a talented photographer during the late 1960s and even gave up canvas for photography for a period before returning to painting. He has designed magazine covers and stage sets for ballets and operas.

A Bigger Grand Canyon (1998)

Still working today, Hockney is still innovating, notably using iPhone and iPad applications to create portraits.  In 1998 he created what is arguably one of his most memorable works of art, 60 separate paintings which fit together to form one giant painting entitled A Bigger Grand Canyon (1998).

David Hockney has been described as one of the 20th century’s most influential British artists and it’s not hard to understand why.

One could argue that John Pike is perhaps one of the United States less well known practitioners of watercolour art; perhaps this was because of his predilection to undertake a huge amount of industry work; advertisements, illustrations and the like.  Nothing wrong with that of course, it pays the bills but in the eyes of some purists it can detract from the art for art’s sake mentality that we project onto some painters.

Red Barn

Even Pike’s date of birth appears to be a little sketchy although it seems to have been around 1910 in the United States.  He was a student of Charles Hawthorne and Richard Miller in the period in which was learning his trade but in 1933 he headed to Jamaica. It was here that he married and had his only son.  He remained in the West Indies for the next five years, working in the advertising industry there, in particular for the rum industry.  He also became involved with interior design of nightclubs, theatres and the like.

Following his return to the United States in 1938, he enrolled in the U.S Air Force, completing his pilot training but becoming head of the Combat Art Section, attached to the Engineering Corps.  The role of this group was initially to record the United States occupation of Korea in 1945 but in subsequent years he also completed assignments in Columbia, France, Greenland, Japan, Formosa, Ecuador and Germany.  It is these paintings which make up the bulk of the collection which can be viewed at the United States Airforce Academy.

Tropical Beach With Palms

Added to this was Pike’s continual work for industry and he undertook contracts for a large number of American institutions such as Equitable Life, Reader’s Digest, Life and Standard Oil.  From 1960 to his death in 1979 he ran the John Pike Watercolor School which catered for a variety of students from those wishing to study watercolour techniques for art’s sake to those sent by industry to pick up some advertising tips.  By the time of his death he had also exhibited at more than sixty one-man shows.

Royal Watercolour Society Mini Picture Show – 25/11/11 to 22/01/12

We’ve written elsewhere on this site about the long and illustrious history of the Royal Watercolour Society; more than 200 years old it’s regarded as the best of contemporary British watercolour talent and it’s regular exhibitions attract large crowds and eager purchasers.  We’ve already visited the Mall Galleries and the Bankside Galleries and more recently the Autumn exhibition was well worth a visit.

Just as one exhibition finishes, another one is hot on it’s heels; the Mini Picture Show begins on 25th November until the 22nd January and is marketed as something of a winter festival and an opportunity to buy a classy Christmas present.  It’s call the Mini Picture Show as all the work is small scale; it will also be available to take away on the day if the mood takes you.  There’s a small selection from the RWS website shown below:

Dartmoor Moods 1 - Afterglow - Peter J Morrell

One Red Flower - Jill Leman

Alan Cristea Gallery – Editions and Acquisitions – 18/11/11 to 23/12/11

Moving away from purely watercolour exhibitions, the Alan Cristea Gallery is one of London’s foremost contemporary galleries, showcasing a wide variety of talented artists in a number of different mediums.  Editions and Acquisitions will be held at 31 and 34 Cork Street, Mayfair and it’s essentially the highlights of the gallery’s 2011 publishing programme.  Apart from paintings in various mediums you can check out woodcuts and and a selection of other contemporary art before the end of the year.

Anthony Reynolds Gallery – Jon Thompson – 28/10/11 to 3/12/11

The Anthony Reynolds Gallery in Soho is currently hosting an exhibition of new work from Jon Thompson, well regarded London artist

Cadence and Discord

and one time tutor of Damien Hirst.  Thompson was one of the driving forces behind the Britart movement of the late 1980s and early 1990s.  The movement. also known as the Young British Artists (YBA), grew around graduates from the BA Fine Arts course at Goldsmiths where Thompson was head of the department of art.

This is an exhibition well worth visiting to see the latest additions to his ongoing Toronto Cycle project; the latest work is called Cadence and Discord and you can see a sample of the offerings on the right.

Annely Juda Fine Art – Kazimir Malevich & Francois Morellet – 28/10/11 to 3/12/11

Back in Mayfair the Annely Fine Art Gallery is currently hosting and exhibition of work by Kazimir Malevich and Francois Morellet.  Morellet have been exhibiting here since the early 1970s.  Malevich was a Polish national residing in Russia and was one of the 20th century’s first abstract artists.  Among other accomplishments, the well regarded Malevich was the originator of the ‘Suprematism’ movement, a school of art based on largely geometric shapes, mostly squares and circles.

This exhibition is a display of recent work by Francois Morellet which is heavily influenced by Malevich’s suprematist movement and the man himself is fresh from a retrospective at the Pompidou Centre in Paris.

Bangkok, Thailand hosts an upcoming watercolour exhibition soon and it’s always refreshing to experience what we think of as European traditional styles in non-European countries.  The focus of this exhibition is Boonkasem Sae-Kwoa, a resident of Krabi in south west Thailand who will be displaying a collection of some 50 or so watercolour paintings.

Boonkasem Sae-Kwoa watercolour

Boonkasem’s work is largely inspired by the Andaman Sea, the body of water which stretches west from the coast of Thailand and is home to some of Asia’s best beaches.  The exhibition is entitled “Home Is Where The Heart Is” and Boonkasem says that:

“Home is where we feel comfortable and safe.  There were times I forgot my Andaman home which has been part of my life.  And “Home Is Where The Heart Is” is the meaning of this exhibition.  It portrays my big world – the Andaman world in which I live with freedom in my mind.”

The exhibition will be held at Jamjuree Art Gallery, owned and run by Chulalongkorn University and situated in the commercial area of Bangkok, just one block down from the MBK shopping centre for those who know Bangkok.  Jamjuree Art Gallery is more accustomed to displaying Thai historical works related to the University’s history departments but occasionally dips it’s toe into other mediums.

Boonkasem Sae-Kwoa watercolour

Money raised from this event will go towards humanitarian activities  at a charity called the Nat Association in Krabi and the exhibition itself will also be displayed there after passing through Phuket also.

Viktor Mitic at Gallery Moos, Toronto

Viktor Mitic is an interesting character;  regarded as taking much of his influence from gestural art.  The 1950s played host to a

Viktor Mitic

whole host of experimental abstract expressionists, some of course better than others and in the 1960s artists such as Yves Klein worked with innovative styles which almost certainly influenced Viktor Mitic’s most famous works – his ‘bullet paintings’ – which are made by shooting a revolver through the canvas.

This exhibition is something a little different and perhaps a little more accessible for fans of traditional watercolour.  Described as ‘rain paintings’, Mitic combines watercolour styles with the haphazard nature of rainfall.  The origin of Mitic’s ‘rain paintings’ is one of chance.  He prefers to paint outside and on one occasion left the canvas for a break, returning to find it had begun to rain and that “the rain had produced some interesting effects on the canvas.”

This discovery led to Viktor Mitic actually painting in the rain, mixing the minute planning of a watercolour with the random splashes of a rain shower.  Mitic also stresses that the liquid must be rain; other water does not have the correct mixture of minerals and chemicals as the artist has discovered through trail and error.

The Serbian born Mitic has a history of simultaneously releasing films and books alongside his exhibitions and this is no exception.  A book and a short film will accompany the Gallery Moos show.

Viktor Mitic - Galaxy

Kuch Khaas logo

simple news here is that Kuch Khaas, a type of creative arts centre in the capital Islamabad is holding a month long watercolour techniques workshop for beginners.

More on that later but let’s first have a look at Kuch Khaas and what sort of organisation it is.  Shayan Afzal Khan is the brains behind the project and is only a handful of years old.  The centre themselves describe themselves as a  “…centre for arts, culture and dialogue, a not-for-profit social enterprise [and] is a community space for interaction, public discourse, cultural and intellectual pursuits, and civic engagement.” It has also been described it as a “…community space for meaningful dialogue and creative expression,” among other things.

Much of its focus has been on extra education for children and to enable them to explore their own creativity outside what Khan feels is the stifling atmosphere of standard education.  Apart from painting, Kuch Khaas offers many vocational courses for the practical side of things as well as a media centre, a library, performance arts facilities and of course a cafe.  There’s a nominal fee for those who can afford it and it’s free for those who can’t, meaning people from different walks of life can mix together in this productive environment.

The watercolour techniques course is being run by Mahjabeen Atif, a graduate of the National College of Arts who believes that the gateway to one’s creativity is to master the elementary techniques of that medium.  Reinforcing this point she said that “…when you don’t have to agonize over the “how” you are free to paint your dreams.”

Ultimately everyone involved at Kuch Khaas would like the centre to a driver for social and cultural change within the country and for us, it’s always gratifying to report on a good news story from a country with the problems that Pakistan has.