7 of the best new artworks at Life is Beautiful 2019

In its seven years, the Life is Beautiful festival has endeavored to make downtown Las Vegas more beautiful by creating lasting art pieces.

For 2019, many works of art feature sculptural, 3D and immersive elements to encourage interaction. Among them: a life-size mammoth, an enchanting forest and a larger-than-life butterfly habitat.

Here are seven new artworks not to miss:

Mantra’s specimen case

Internationally known street artist Mantra is creating a permanent work for the 2019 festival. He transforms multistory buildings into specimen cases, using trick-of-the-eye 3D murals. On the Fremont9 residential building, he’s painting a hyper-realistic shadow box of oversize butterflies.

Monumental Mammoth

Las Vegas teenager Tahoe Mack created the “Monumental Mammoth” as part of her Girl Scouts Gold Award achievement. She was inspired by the natural beauty at Tule Springs and worked with local artists to make the life-size mammoth using recycled garbage.

Hot Tea

Hot Tea creates striking kinetic sculptures using lengths of yarn. His installation, flanked by murals from Okuda San Miguel and Eric Vozolla, will feature a grid of colorful strings that dance overhead as the wind shifts.

Forest Bath

Brooklyn-based artist Sam Campbell is teaming up with Albie Alexander, creative director behind the immersive installation 29Rooms, to create a special experience at Life is Beautiful. The duo are transforming the Western Hotel space into a “Forest Bath.” The experience will invite visitors to relax on real grassy knolls and take in projection imagery of nature.

Art Motel

This year, the Art Motel is being taken over by Bacardi. The exterior has been converted into an intricate stained-glass-style mural. Inside, four rooms offer different experiences, while the courtyard will feature a whimsical concierge desk and a nature-inspired jungle area.

‘An Allegory of Natural Beauty’

Las Vegas artist Eric Vozzola is creating his largest Life is Beautiful mural yet. His 230-foot-long painting plays with the balance between black and white and incorporates plant life, which is where he says his mind goes when he thinks about beauty. The lower part of the mural features different patterns that he hopes to see people interacting with.

Daku

Indian artist Daku creates innovative artworks using light, shadow and typography. This year, he secured letters perpendicularly to a storefront, and lights will cast moving shadows on the wall below.

Contact Janna Karel at jkarel@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3835. Follow @jannainprogress on Twitter.