Wynne’s ‘Wrecked’ Las Vegas exhibit is really ‘Elsewhere’

Friday, Feb. 2, 2007 | 7:10 a.m.

New York artist Rob Wynne likes to consider the city where he's bound for an exhibition.

For Munich: "Everything I did was taken from the Porcelain Museum in Nymphenburg."

His "Wrecked" exhibit, on display at Dust Gallery, is from Wynne's idea of Las Vegas - mainly that Las Vegas is perpetually elsewhere, even when you're here.

And so "Elsewhere" in glass letters is the first thing you see when entering the gallery on Main Street.

The letters, poured free-form then filled with silver, hang on the gallery's back wall.

"You don't think it's too literal?" someone said at the opening.

Possibly. But Wynne, who is dyslexic, likes to play with words. He's made several such glass phrases throughout his career. Glass letters are his mark. A series of framed poetic phrases (monoprints) is placed vertically on another wall. Glass bubbles placed on top of the almost one-ton pile of dirt and gravel in the gallery center contain the words (which he calls poems): "murmur" and "pause."

The entire show is a nice collection of the conceptual works for which the internationally shown artist is known.

His colored, reflective glass toadstools - "invoking childhood," he says - are on display, as are large, glass juicy teardrops, representing water or the lack thereof.

"I was thinking about having a show here in Las Vegas and was going to base it on 'The Heart of Darkness,' by Joseph Conrad," Wynne says. "I can't really read, but what I remember best is 'the voyage there.' "

So welcome to elsewhere. But watch your step. There is a glass snake on the floor.

Details: "Wrecked" at Dust Gallery, 1221 S. Main St., through March 4, 880-3878.

Orchestral maneuvers

What a wild and crazy anniversary year for the Henderson Symphony Orchestra.

Peter Aaronson, the music director revered for taking the community orchestra to another level, surprised the musicians by abruptly moving to the East Coast in November because of a family emergency.

The departure left the orchestra in the middle of its 20th season and near the holidays without a leader. It also coincided with other big changes: attaining nonprofit status and stepping away from Henderson by dropping the name Civic Symphony and changing it to Symphony Orchestra.

But things appear to be calming.

Five candidates auditioned to be the new conductor in early January. Tyras Krysa, interim conductor of the UNLV orchestra, was selected to lead the Henderson group.

Sugar, sugar

God bless consumption. For without it, who would we be? How would we define ourselves? "Sugar Rush," which opened last week at Reed Whipple Cultural Center's gallery, throws you right into the fray that is contemporary, materialistic, pop society.

The show features three New York artists from Korea.

Jeongmee Yoon's gender-based photos of girls and all things pink: dolls, dishes, sunglasses, bows, Barbies and combs, contrast her images of boys with all things blue: hot rods, action figures, instruments, books, balls, boats, trucks and more. Each child, placed amid his or her things, becomes part of the shrine that represents his or her destiny.

Eun Young Choi's "Apple Juice Kisses and Champagne Farts" is delicious eye candy: thousands and thousands of well-composed colorful stickers applied to circular mirrors and onto the wall. It's a whimsical, flowing journey into neverland.

Yunsook Park, whose large-scale portraits of lemons, plump strawberries and roses are made from air fresheners, oil and acrylic on canvas, curated the show.

Details: "Sugar Rush" is on display through April 8 at Reed Whipple Cultural Center, 821 Las Vegas Blvd. North. Admission is free, 229-1012.