12 new artworks to look out for at Life is Beautiful 2019
Life isn’t just beautiful. It’s artful, too.
In its seventh year, the Life is Beautiful festival is introducing a lineup of art installations that boasts an array of large-scale murals, mixed-media and technology-forward designs.
The festival is once again partnering with global creative house Justkids to introduce international artists to downtown Las Vegas.
Contemporary artist Eric Riegerm, internationally known as HOTTEA, is installing a kinetic yarn sculpture. The installation will hang over the crossover on 7th Street next to the Art Motel and will sway over festivalgoers’ heads as the wind shifts.
DAKU, an anonymous street artist in India, makes stencil and typography works that utilize shadow. In downtown Las Vegas, he will create a light-activated mural, in which lights will create a text-based image on Fremont Street.
Zosen and Mina Hamada are visual artists based in Spain who create site-specific public art that emphasizes color and free forms. They will create a vibrant mural on the El Cortez parking garage at Stewart Avenue and 7th Street.
Youri Cansell, better known as MANTRA, creates murals on multi-story buildings depicting natural life. MANTRA will create a new mural on the northwest wall of the Fremont9 residential complex on Fremont Street and an immersive butterfly case installation.
Akacorleone, whose real name is Pedro Campiche, started out as a graffiti writer in Lisbon. He is partnering with Stella Artois for a mural and installation to transform the former Las Vegas Motel on 7th Street into a whimsical European market.
Ernest Zacharevic is a Lithuanian artist with a passion for creating art outdoors that engages with its urban surroundings. On his first visit to Las Vegas, he will create a mixed-media art piece made with found local resources.
Two new immersive experiences will debut at this year’s event.
Forest Bath uses a combination of surface projection, lighting and soundscapes to create an other-worldly cinematic forest inside the Western Hotel. It’s a partnership with the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, an environmental action aimed at moving toward clean energy. Forest Bath is meant to offer a space to recharge the body and contemplate the relationship between ourselves and the natural world.
Life is Beautiful is partnering with Bacardi for this year’s Art Motel.
The motel will feature four rooms including the ‘70s-themed Disco Room where guests can dance on shag carpet beneath disco lights; the Future Doesn’t Suck Room, which is dedicated to reducing single-use plastic; the hidden Rum Room speakeasy, which only a few guests will stumble into; and the Music Room, where guests can interact with steel drums.
The Art Motel’s Courtyard will offer four more experiences including a kinetic concierge desk sculpture, a height-defying installation, an immersive space inspired by the jungle and a theatrical installation where a mysterious phone call may lead to that hidden speakeasy.
Local Las Vegas artists also will contribute artworks to this year’s festival.
Eric Vozzola is returning to Life is Beautiful to create a large-scale mural that utilizes black-and-white and plant life, located on a wall on 7th Street between Stewart and Ogden.
Tahoe Mack, a Las Vegas teenager, is debuting her Monumental Mammoth near the downtown stage before it becomes permanently installed at Ice Age Fossils State Park.
Derek Douglas, who goes by Snipt, is creating two sets of installations using shipping containers.
Local artist Jerry Misko is putting his spin on the tall “Life is Beautiful” letters, which are located near the event’s entrance every year.
Contact Janna Karel at jkarel@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jannainprogress on Twitter.
