Viva Andy: ‘Warhol Out West’ exhibition to open at Bellagio

By Andrea Domanick

Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012 | 5:44 p.m.

Mover over, Monet: The Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art is getting a pop art makeover. The Bellagio announced plans this week to bring the works of Andy Warhol to the hotel-casino’s art space in February.

“Warhol Out West,” slated to open Feb. 8, will present 59 of the iconic pop artist’s works, focusing on his interpretation of Western themes. The exhibits will span the breadth of the diverse mediums Warhol worked in, including paintings, photographs, screen prints, wallpaper and sculpture. His famous “Double Elvis” will be right at home in the Las Vegas gallery, which will feature a rare look at his “Cowboys and Indians” series, as well as his classic 1960s pop paintings of consumer products and celebrities and his 1980s advertisement series.

The exhibition was organized in partnership with Pittsburgh’s Andy Warhol Museum, marking an expansion beyond the gallery’s long-standing relationship with the Museum of Fine Art, Boston, which most recently helped open the current exhibition, "Claude Monet: Impressions of Light," last February.

“Our exhibit at Bellagio will be the only comprehensive Andy Warhol collection in the United States outside his namesake museum in Pittsburgh, and we recognize what a tremendous honor this is for our city,” said Tarissa Tiberti, executive director of BGFA, in a statement. “Everywhere you look in Las Vegas, you can see the impact of Warhol’s creative genius, and it is remarkable how his life and art continues to transcend generations.”

“Warhol Out West” marks the largest and most comprehensive showcase of Warhol’s work in Las Vegas to date. The last local exhibition devoted exclusively to the artist’s work was "Andy Warhol: the Celebrity Portraits" at BGFA in 2003, which featured some 50 silkscreen and painted portraits.

“We hope visitors to the gallery think about the relationship of the images in front of them with the landscape of Las Vegas, from the kitsch to the fabulous and everything in between,” said Eric Shiner, director of the Andy Warhol Museum. “As Las Vegas is key to understanding America, there is no better place than Bellagio for us to share our Andy Warhol artworks. Whether Elvis, Liz, Campbell’s Soup or a Brillo Box, Warhol’s subjects represent America in all of its many guises.”

“Warhol Out West” will run from Feb. 8 to Oct. 27, 2013. Tickets are $16 for general admission; $13 for Nevada residents and seniors 65 and older; and $11 for students, teachers and military with valid ID. Children 12 and younger are free. Tickets and information are available by calling (702) 693-7871 and (877) 957-9777 and online at Bellagio.com. Audio tours are included in the price of admission, and complimentary docent tours are available daily at 2 p.m. BGFA is open daily 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Last admissions are sold 30 minutes before closing.

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