Reno is beneficiary of Las Vegas’ loss

Photo courtesy of Reno News & Review

Art collector and Las Vegas resident Robert Deiro says he’s “chagrined” that this city doesn’t have an accredited art museum.

By Kristen Peterson (contact)

Thursday, Feb. 12, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Imagine the delight that rippled through the art community when European art collectors Pujo and Anita Zabludowicz proposed building a museum of contemporary art in the Las Vegas Entertainment District.

In a town without a major art museum, this was going to be our first. These were serious collectors. Anita Zabludowicz, well known in British fine art circles, is a trustee of the Tate Museum in London. The couple own more than 1,000 works by emerging artists. A portion of that collection would be rotated in exhibits at the Las Vegas museum. Moreover, the museum would be the permanent home of British artist Keith Tyson’s large-scale installation, “Large Field Array.”

The Zabludowiczes would have funded the museum, but the Tamares Group, headed by Pujo Zabludowicz, withdrew its proposal, saying that spending $12 million on a nonprofit museum during a surly recession was not the best idea.

It was heartbreaking to arts advocates. Las Vegas is one of few cities its size without a major art museum, meaning that children here grow up with little in terms of art experience and education. For that, the city suffers greatly. Art is about ideas and inspiration.

We also lose out in other ways. Take the example of Robert Deiro.

The Las Vegas resident is a longtime friend and business associate of land sculptor Michael Heizer. Deiro was the pilot who flew Heizer into the desert in the 1970s, looking for land to build what would become “Double Negative,” a massive earth sculpture outside of Overton.

Deiro amassed a collection of ephemera from working with Heizer, who also is building the vast earthwork “City” about 150 miles north of Las Vegas, as well as artifacts from sculptor Walter de Maria, creator of “The Lightning Field” in western New Mexico.

Knowing the collection is invaluable, Deiro sought a permanent home. But Southern Nevada does not have an accredited art museum. Las Vegas Art Museum, on its way to establishing itself as a serious institution, isn’t accredited. Deiro, aware of the Zabludowiczes’ plan, hoped the museum would soon establish and become accredited so he could offer the gift there.

Around that time, the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno hosted a conference on the concept of environment among artists and designers.

Last month the museum launched its “Center for Art + Environment” —with Deiro’s collection.

That makes sense. The center, geared toward research and the fostering of art in relation to environment, is led by writer William Fox, who is acquainted with Nevada and land art.

Moreover, it keeps in Nevada the collection of sketches, correspondence, daily log books and photography for Heizer’s work, including “City.”

The folks in Reno couldn’t be happier. The center is a perfect fit, says David Walker, executive director of the Nevada Museum of Art. “Nevada is really considered a birthplace of the earthworks and land-art movement. Heizer and de Maria are arguably two of the most important artists of the 20th century.”

What does Deiro say?

“I’m chagrined that my own community, with all of its money and people running around talking about culture, doesn’t have an accredited art museum. Las Vegas doesn’t have a clue that Nevada is home to one of the greatest contemporary sculptures.”

Mayor Oscar Goodman recently suggested that locals fly to Los Angeles to visit an art museum.

Reno might not be a bad idea either.

When Libby Lumpkin, art historian and former executive director of the Las Vegas Art Museum, said in a recent Sun story that Las Vegas “has let a lot of things pass through its fingers,” she wasn’t kidding.