ARTS NOTES

Friday, July 28, 2006 | 7:48 a.m.

Dust Gallery at 1221 S. Main St. examines the relationship between architecture and contemporary art in its new show, "Architectural Elements," which opened this week.

The exhibit of paintings depicts public and residential structures and sites.

Las Vegas artist Mark Brandvik's portraits of Las Vegas buildings are broken down to their purest shapes with minimal detail. In a similar style, Santa Cruz artist Liam Jones depicts suburban landscapes. Nikko Mueller's bird's-eye view of an exclusive residential community reads like an abstract painting.

"There is work that is extremely literal in this show - for people who need literal. Then there is a piece by Marietta Hoferer that is extremely abstract," says gallery owner Naomi Arin.

Other artists in the show are Jonnie Andersen, Jonny Detiger and Alison Owen.

The exhibit runs through Sept. 3. The opening reception will be today from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. More information can be found at www.dustgallery.com or by calling 880-3878.

No advice

What's happening with the Arts Advisory service at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art? The service, which began last fall, seems to have disappeared.

Nobody is talking.

Brian Cantor, who ran the service, hasn't returned phone calls for two weeks.

A Kirvin Doak Communications representative assigned to promote the service said she did not know whether it was still operating.

Matthew Hileman, the gallery's managing director, said he does not know whether the service has been discontinued, that the service was independent of the gallery. Hileman says he has not seen Cantor in a while, but that he normally wouldn't see him anyway.

Calls and e-mails to New York's PaceWildenstein Gallery, which owns the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, were not returned by deadline.