The Los Angeles Times follows Maya Lin to Las Vegas to see her oversee the installation of one of her Silver River pieces in a new development opening there, CityCenter:
Lin’s sculpture is one of what curator Michele Quinn called “five pivotal pieces” in the CityCenter collection. During the last four years, she has spent nearly $40 million on commissions — Lin’s included — and acquisitions. That money has paid for 22 pieces, making CityCenter’s one of the largest corporately owned art collections in the world.
Among the existing works purchased are pieces by renowned artists Henry Moore and Claes Oldenburg, and Coosje van Bruggen. Moore’s “Reclining Connected Forms” is a large, abstract sculpture of a baby wrapped in a mother’s embrace. Oldenburg and Van Bruggen’s work is a realistic, 19-foot-tall sculpture of an old-fashioned typewriter eraser.
Two other works are also showcased. Nancy Rubins’ “Big Edge” is fashioned from chunks of more than 200 watercraft, including aluminum rowboats and wooden canoes. Jenny Holzer’s 280-foot-long sign features a new artistic medium: LED lights.
An interpretive map will guide people to the various works, which are placed throughout the 67-acre lodging, shopping, and entertainment complex. “I think our artists are happy their works are going to live and breathe,” Quinn said. “They are excited by the work being seen by a new audience.
Las Vegas New CityCenter is a haven for contemporary art (Bloomberg)