Healing wounds of ‘The Scarlet Letter’

Sunday, May 28, 2006 | 7:41 a.m.

Tempers flared when the Las Vegas Centennial Commission unveiled a mural by Los Angeles artist Alexis Smith in November.

Her piece, "The Scarlet Letter," is an upside-down rendition of the 18th-century, Thomas Lawrence painting "Pinky," covered with the red letter A.

Hearts were broken over what some perceived as a reference to Las Vegas' moniker of Sin City, full of scandalous behavior, including adultery. In the end, the work was championed by the mayor and other Centennial Commission members.

To open discourse and hopefully heal wounds, the Centennial Committee and the Las Vegas Arts Commission will host a community dialogue June 29, the same date "The Scarlet Letter" will be mounted at the Sahara West Library. It will be the last of about 180 murals to be dedicated.

Is it much ado about nothing?

The artist says the mural is open to several interpretations - including adultery. And art critic and author Dave Hickey calls the mural's opponents "philistines."

When the city asked Smith to produce grade A art, Hickey says, "She did what artists are supposed to do: She turned the world upside-down and gave herself an A."

Hickey, who will introduce Smith at the unveiling, says borrowing the title of Nathaniel Hawthorne's great American novel "about the cruelty and oppressiveness of Puritan society" clarifies her point: "We tend to label artists and grade their work for being different in the same way the Puritans labeled adulteresses."

Smith, who once taught at UNLV, says she didn't intend to cause a problem with the mural. She wanted to produce a piece of provocative and inspiring art, and the backlash surprised her.

And Puritanism in Las Vegas?

"This is how Las Vegas advertises itself in its commercials," Smith says. "People who are not married are stepping out of hotels to the slogan, 'What happens here stays here.'

"Even though I lived here, I didn't think about the county and city and the polarized attitudes - that something that would be acceptable in the county wouldn't be acceptable in the city."

The outrage over the mural, she says, was interesting because clearly "not many people had read 'The Scarlet Letter.' "

She regards the debate as fitting because the book "is more about judgment than it is about sin."

A professional artist since the 1970s, Smith's trademark is mixed-media collages. In 1992, she had a solo exhibit at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and she has created more than 20 commissioned public art projects.

Smith earned $25,000 for "The Scarlet Letter," which measures 36 feet by 22 feet and will be stretched over a steel frame to resemble a painting.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman supports the mural: "It may not be my favorite piece, but I'm glad that it generates controversy. Art is supposed to suggest dialogue.

"I support any freedom of expression so long as it's not obscenity or pornography."

And the reference to adultery?

"It's a part of our fabric," he says. "If people get emotional about it, it's their problem. It's just an expression of an idea."

In November, some objecting to the mural said it ran counter to efforts to clean up Las Vegas' image.

Asked how a parent might explain the mural to a child, Smith is succinct: "Say 'It's a book. You should read it.'

"That's why it's so great that it's on a library. It's wonderful. This has a lot of issues about art, freedom of literature."