Bright start, hazy future for gallery

Friday, Aug. 17, 2007 | 7:29 a.m.

It's hard to miss the metal security shutter locking in GC Arts, a contemporary art gallery that moved into the downtown Arts District at the end of 2004.

Under the direction of Michelle Quinn, the gallery hosted works by artists Ed Ruscha, Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Rauschenberg and others on the downtown arts scene, mostly in the form of high-end prints.

It baffled First Friday patrons unfamiliar with minimalist art when it exhibited John McCracken's "Dimension" and James Turrell's "Gard Red," and tantalized them with an exhibit of works on paper by Las Vegas artist Tim Bavington.

But it closed its doors Aug. 1 and its future is up in the air. Quinn, partner of GC Arts, left the company to open a consulting business, a salon-style, mostly appointment-only operation on Seventh Street.

Like the attorney's offices in the area, Michele Quinn Fine Art will operate from a converted home.

That won't give her the ample exhibition space she had at the Main Street location, but she will have her own business (a reason for leaving) and bring in smaller shows, including the opening show featuring work by German photographer Vera Lutter.

The gallery was opened downtown when owned by casino executive and art collector Glenn Schaeffer. In March 2006 Los Angeles art dealers Bill Griffin and James Corcoran bought the company from Schaeffer and partnered with Quinn, who became director and continued working mostly with corporate and private collections .

"They really didn't have any interest in doing an exhibition program. I kept that going under their duress," Quinn says.

Quinn, who is part of the group working on projects for CityCenter, says the decision to move from Main Street has nothing to do with Project Neon Lights , which is set to demolish the businesses across the street from GC Arts to make way for a sports arena, although it made the decision easier.

"It is going to prevent a lot of things from happening there," she says, referring to the possibility of a quaint pedestrian-friendly area. "It's not going to bring a walking environment. Nobody is going to go walk around an arena."

Much of the consignment inventory went with Quinn and she still represents publishers Gemini and Brooke Alexander Editions.

Calls made to Griffin regarding the future of the gallery were not returned.

Gateway to the arts

Portland, Ore., artist Ed Carpenter has pulled out of the competition to design the Gateway to the Arts District public art project because he is engaged in another project. That leaves four contenders: Dennis Oppenheim, Lawrence Argent, Romero Britto and a team of Las Vegas artists - Miguel Rodriguez, Zak Ostrowski and Barret Thomson.

The $700,000 project, funded by the Arts Commission and Nevada Transportation Department, would build artist-designed gateways into the Arts District.

When asked whether he was still interested in the project, Oppenheim, one of the most sophisticated artists of the bunch, simply responded: "We are planning to win."

Stop and Glow

The artists have turned in their final designs for Stop and Glow, a project of artist-designed bus shelters that are to be installed next spring for the Regional Transportation Commission's new express line, beginning at the Government Center and ending at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Eric Pawloski, Brian Porray, Danielle Kelly, Stephen Hendee, Sean Russell, Evan Dent, Todd VonBastiaans and Catherine Borg designed shelters that will be site-specific. For example, Borg's shelter across the street from the old Landmark hotel site will incorporate classic neon from the hotel. Las Vegas and Clark County will each pay $10,000 for two artists. RTC will pay $60,000 for six artists and will fund construction, paying no more than $50,000 for each shelter.