Matisse grandson teams with children for LV’s Art21

Kimberley McGee

Thursday, Nov. 4, 1999 | 9:33 a.m.

What: Art21.

Where: MGM Grand Conference Center.

When: Show hours are until 7 p.m. today; noon to 8 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

Cost: $10.

Pierre Matisse didn't think he would be flying into Las Vegas anytime soon -- but he has, for art's sake.

"I was amazed to find out Las Vegas is really involved in art," he says. "It has a reputation as the gambling capital of the world and it is very good now that they are changing their image and shifting to other things like art."

The grandson of famed impressionist Henri Matisse, Pierre, 73, has come to town to create a mural for the Sunrise Children's Hospital Foundation, a nonprofit organization specializing in pediatric education and research.

And it's part of the latest art show to hit Las Vegas: Art21. Dubbed "The Art Fair of the New Century," it's the largest art exhibit ever in Las Vegas with 4,000 pieces sprawled over more than 70,000 square feet of convention space at the MGM Grand Conference Center through Saturday.

Eric Smith, executive show director of Art21, has gathered famous artists and art dealers from around the world to showcase their best pieces.

"There are over 20 countries participating," Smith says. "This isn't just art on plain walls. We built miniature galleries, 10-foot high walls with lights."

Smith brought this eclectic art fair to Las Vegas because of the favorable word of mouth the city has been receiving in the art world, including the recent Marc Chagall exhibit by the Las Vegas Art Museum and Steve Wynn's Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art.

"We wanted to provide a West coast fair that art dealers can shop at that was also an international art fair," Smith says.

Smith says that 4,000 people came to a show of this magnitude at the Los Angeles Convention Center a few years ago, but he expects 15,000 to show up in Las Vegas, given the Strip location, drawing both tourists and local residents.

Smith plans to make Art21 an annual show in Las Vegas.

A particular highlight Smith is proud of is "Zurburan," a traveling tango-art display which is appearing at Art21, courtesy of the Buenos Aires Gallery. The colorful tango art display is accentuated by tango performances by Brazilian dancers and lessons for any interested art aficionados.

Smith and fellow organizer Steven Addi wanted to give back to the Las Vegas community that they said was easy to work with in planning the fair. During an opening night silent auction, 25 pieces were sold and all money went to the foundation, as well as 25 percent of the $10 per person entrance fee.

"We feel it is a particularly good organization, there are so many children in need," Smith says.

For Matisse, the joy comes from the sparkle in children's eyes when they see what they have created with his help. Matisse's mural will be the culmination of the community's involvement in the art show.

"We are flying out there with the drawing and we are going to apply the (children's) paper cutouts with the children and finish that piece together," he says.

Matisse's paper cutouts have garnered international attention. He recently gave the royal family of Japan a personalized paper cutout work, which was auctioned off last year for the Kosovo orphan fund.

"I have a soft spot -- if you ask me to do something for children, by all means I will do it," Matisse says. "I've worked with children before, teaching them to draw. People don't realize how smart children are. They understand a lot more than we give them credit for."

What they may not understand is what the mural itself will look like. Matisse will glue the children's cutouts on museum quality paper, which he says should last forever.

But he's a bit nervous.

"It's the first time I'm doing a mural of this size in paper," he says. "For me it's a very big project."

In the past Matisse has worked with two-by-three-foot paper cutout murals, whereas this one will by four by eight feet.

"At that point they do not know what it is going to be," he says with some childish delight of his own. "They will have lots of little pieces of paper of different shapes and color and they don't have the foggiest idea of what it will look like when it is finished."

Matisse's wife says the paper cutouts are an extension of the boy that still exists inside the man.

"He has a sense of wonder about him," Jeanne Matisse says. "He loves the world and is an easily excited person. He loves children, he finds them very bright, he finds them very creative. He enjoys seeing what they will come up with, what they will do next."