One of Dennis Oeppenheim’s “Paintbrushes” on Charleston Boulevard. The pair of brushes, which serve as the Gateway to the Arts District, arrived in town Tuesday night.
Thursday, July 29, 2010 | 12:05 a.m.
The walk sign blinks loudly. Cars whiz past. Voices waft from the nearby bus stop on this Wednesday morning, but nobody there seems to be discussing the neighborhood's newest arrivals. Not yet, anyway.
Soon, Dennis Oppenheim's "Paintbrushes" will be hard to miss. Standing 45-feet tall and leaning into the street with a slight slant, the Charleston Boulevard sculptures serve as the Gateway to the Arts District. The $700,000 project has been in the works since 2007 when the New York artist's proposal (one of his two) beat out three others artists' submissions.
"Paintbrushes" was trucked in from California on Tuesday night and the two pieces were installed across the street from each other on Charleston — at Fourth Street and at Casino Center Drive.
Looking technical in the daytime, each will emit beams of colored light, designed to crisscross over Charleston, into the night sky. Oppenheim, who is known for his large-scale public projects, says he selected the theme as a way to combine the idea of art with the city's history of neon. The original paintbrush proposal included four brushes — two at each gateway — but that exceeded budget.
Some critics initially were opposed to the idea of using an out-of-town, internationally famous artist, whose original proposals came in way over budget. But by Wednesday, the chatter among Downtowners, some of whom already came to pay homage to their newest icon, was welcoming.
"I can't wait to see what it's going to look like at night," says Marty Walsh, owner of Trifecta Gallery, which looks out onto the paintbrush at Casino Center Boulevard. "I actually like it better now that it is up. It's more minimal. It's good for the public. As artists, we tend to think a paintbrush is trite, but in that aspect (the public accessibility), it's good."
Oppenheim will be in town for the official dedication ceremony at 7:30 p.m. August 11 and lecturing about the work at 6:30 p.m. August 10 in the Fifth Street School.
— Originally published on LasVegasWeekly.com
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