Artistic Endeavors

The folks behind Artexpo Las Vegas certainly have.

The first western offshoot of a long-running New York trade show, Artexpo Las Vegas spotlights more than 250 exhibitors — representing established galleries and independent artists alike — today through Sunday at Mandalay Bay. All artworks are for sale.

And while much of this Artexpo echoes its New York counterpart, organizers couldn’t resist an only-in-Vegas twist: a first-ever Celebrity Art Pavilion featuring works by creative types who gained fame doing something other than art.

"Given the entertainment nature of the city, that was an obvious choice," says Rob Spademan, Artexpo Las Vegas’ marketing director.

Among the famous names on display: works by ex-Beatles Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the late John Lennon, the Rolling Stones’ Ron Wood, disco queen Donna Summer and Rat Pack legend Frank Sinatra.

And at noon Saturday, actor-turned-painter Tony Curtis — a Southern Nevada resident since 2000 — will receive Artexpo’s first Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the arts.

"I’m going to pose nude for them," jokes Curtis, who turned 82 in June. "It’s an opportunity to expose myself — and I mean in many ways."

But seriously, folks, Curtis sees Artexpo as a sign that "Nevada, whether we know it or not, is beginning to blossom in more ways than one," including as "an ideal environment for artistic endeavors."

With the West in general, and Las Vegas in particular, experiencing explosive growth, "we needed to do something out there," Spademan says of Artexpo’s westward expansion.

This weekend’s show is expected to attract 3,000 attendees from the art world — and between 6,000 and 8,000 consumers, he says. (Last year’s New York Artexpo drew 35,000 — about 25,000 of them consumers.)

"Artexpo is considered, within the industry, the premier exhibition in the trade," says David Milton, a painter based in Laguna Beach, Calif., who’s exhibiting watercolors depicting Las Vegas’ "classic landmarks and vanishing Americana."

And while "the big expo in New York is fantastic in its own way," says artist Alexandre Renoir (you might have heard of his great-grandfather, legendary French Impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir), "the vitality of Vegas" and the "fresh eyes" here will add excitement, he predicts.

Based in Edmonton, Alberta, Renoir will work on hand-painted lithographs from noon to 3 p.m. during Artexpo’s three-day run.

Overall, Spademan acknowledges, "It’s a cliché, but there’s really something for everyone — all price levels, all styles, all mediums."

That includes limited-edition works by such legends as Marc Chagall and Camille Pissarro, along with pieces by celebrated contemporary artists Pino, Leon Bronstein and Hamilton Aguiar. "Painter of Light" Thomas Kinkade will debut a sculpture series; at the show, one of Kinkade’s master highlighters will demonstrate highlighting techniques on limited-edition giclees (ink-jet print reproductions of Kinkade paintings).

And the SOLO Independent Artists’ Pavilion will showcase the work of unsigned and emerging artists, including five Southern Nevadans who were awarded scholarships to participate in Artexpo: Gregory Allred, Dar Freeland, David Lancaster, Miguel Rodriguez and Joseph Watson.

During almost three decades in New York (Artexpo celebrates its 30th anniversary in February), the show has provided a launching pad for such future art-world stars as Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Robert Indiana, Peter Max and Leroy Neiman.

In Las Vegas, organizers cite such artists as C.C. Opiela, Anita Lewis, Bernice R. Gross, Antoine de Villiers and Feng Jin (who helped design the Goddess of Democracy statue raised in Beijing’s 1989 Tiananmen Square protests) as names to watch.

Milton’s vivid watercolors depict ’50s-era Fremont Street motels and the Neon Boneyard’s ghostly signs, representing an "extension of a series I’ve been doing for almost 30 years," he notes.

Unlike Milton, such celebrity artists as Curtis and Jefferson Airplane singer Grace Slick (who’ll be at the show from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday and 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday) have instant name recognition.

Granted, "a name will open a door, but if you can’t produce, the door will close real quickly," says Renoir, who acknowledges that "I have big shoes to fill — but I’m not trying to fill them."

Slick first started drawing as a toddler, but it wasn’t until she hung up her microphone professionally in 1989 that she picked up a paintbrush.

"I work every day, pretty much all day — I’m pretty obsessive," Slick admits. "As long as I’m doing something in the arts," she’s fulfilled, she says. "The idea of retirement is silly to me."

For Curtis, too, the chance to express himself through painting provides enormous fulfillment — even more than his storied Hollywood career has.

"One could do it every day," he says of painting. "You’re always improving every time you pick up a brush."

When Curtis fell ill several months ago, however, he couldn’t pick up a brush at all.

"Your eyes will interpret it for you," Curtis says of his creative process, "but you need the extension of your body" to put those visions on canvas.

Since his recovery, however, "I’m able to walk around" and can "paint as much as I want," Curtis says. Which is to say, as much as he can.

Even as a kid on the streets of New York, expressing himself with chalk on a sidewalk or a crayon on a scrap of paper, "I didn’t care whether it was good or bad," Curtis says. "Just give me that crayon and a surface."