Courtesy the artist

"Jubilation Inflation" is the Tamar Ettun's solo show at the UNLV Barrick Museum of Art, the anchor exhibition for the Second Annual College of Fine Arts Art Walk on October 12. "This is the culmination of the five years color project and the first time all four inflatables are shown together," says the artist on Facebook.  "The name for the exhibition is taken from a poem [On Orange] by Rose McLarney, who wrote me this beautiful piece about orange and let us include it."   At 6:30 p.m. College of Fine Arts Dean Nancy J. Uscher will toast Las Vegas arts community at The Barrick. The art walk goes on until 9 p.m. (The Beam hosts ¡Americanx!)

Photo: Jo Russ

Jo Russ "Desert Birdlife Soiree" opened at Delano Las Vegas. Her vivid collage work is now an installation that allows guests to interact in the lobby with this art-as-immersion experience. Runs through January. Instagram hashtags are  ​#jkruss #delanoartseries #desertbirdlifesoiree

Photo: Jo Russ​

Photo: PaintThisDesert

The Studio at Sahara West Library is filled with works from James Stanford for "Shimmering Zen." The exhibition features his landmark digital collages that revisit neon signs and Las Vegas landmarks as a source (metaphor) of personal spirituality. Resource Magazine Online has an extensive interview with Stanford.

Los Angles media covered "The Las Vegas Portraits Project, 1 October Memorial Exhibit" at Clark County Rotunda Gallery. "Artists from America and Canada and as far away as Greece and Peru chose their subjects based on news articles and photos published after the attack."  A special ceremony will be held on October 4.  

Geoff Carter interviewed Justin Favela during  his East Coast gallery tour. Las Vegas Weekly . ​

Photo: The Neon Museum.

Photo: PaintThisDesert

RETNA's large-scale letterforms are one of the leave-behind murals in downtown Las Vegas. My first pass to see new murals in the Life is Beautiful footprint reveals there are not many new works. No surprise since wall space is getting scarce. If you missed it, Bordalo II was interviewed via email by the LasVegas Review Journal, and a preview at Las Vegas Weekly that later confirms two projects were down after the festival ended September 22.

Photo: PaintThisDesert

Jerry Misko's new mural Casino Center and Hoover in Downtown Las Vegas. The phrase at the end is "A Place in the Sun." I am guessing that is the title of this new "Misko."
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OUTSIDE LAS VEGAS

Above: Tagging with light.

​- ModernMet compiled Instagram images from Burning Man 2018.

- The Nevada Museum of Art's retrospective on photographer Anne Brigman made ArtNewspaper
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- "Far from the established New York design world, California became a haven for avant-garde designers, a hub of innovation in both discourse and practice." West of Modernism: California Graphic Design, 1975–95 opens at LACMA

- Ai Weiwei is in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Times has a profile by Deborah Vankin and a review by Christopher Knight.

- The J. Paul Getty Trust now has the papers of the pioneering assemblage artist Betye Saar, and with that came the news the Getty Research Institute will begin The African American Art History Initiative - New York Times

- Grandest U.S. show to date of Victor Hugo drawings opens this week at The Hammer Museum.  It has an "unprecedented" number of loans from Bibliothèque Nationale (18) and Maison de Victor Hugo (25) I  Art Newspaper

​- "Art, science and skateboarding were the magic combination of interests that propelled Halloran into her life as an artist." James Daichendt on artist Lia Halloran, who began her residency at Lux Art Institute I San Diego Tribune

- Jean-Michel Basquiat's life to become a Broadway musical. "The production will have access to both Jean-Michel’s art and personal archives (which is likely to make for some pretty extraordinary sets)."  I ​ArtNet 
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- Projections on buildings became video public art.  Twice. Chicago and Los Angeles,

- ArtPrize Public Projects returned for its third year.

​- Dartmouth College to move a set of racially insensitive murals that offended Native American students to an off-campus storage facility I USNews 

- East coast writer takes a look at street art murals in Curaçao 'cause the weather is warmer there. I Forbes

-  You have seen it, but here it is again.  Brett Kavanaugh Senate testimony was mash-upped with Jules pre-hit speech in "Pulp Fiction." Samuel Jackson approved.

FINAL NOTE

As seen on instagram. When critiquing a project using street art themes you must bring in qualified vandals. Sage Sage and Shawn Gatlin came to my 2D Basic class at UNLV to see student work  that are a response to campus safety (and a few other topics).  The work will seen during UNLV College of Fine Arts Annual Art Walk in undisclosed locations.

By María Margarita López
 
“The Wrong Todd” hit the right notes with the audience at the Arclight Theater in Culver City during the final week of the LA Film Festival. This sci-fi comedy from writer/director/editor Rob Schulbaum, and producers Anthony Ambrosino and Ric Murray, is an entertaining film with a far-out premise that is bumpy at the beginning. Once you’re buckled in “The Wrong Todd” takes you on a delightful trip.
 
Todd (Jesse Rosen) is set in his ways. He has no desire to go beyond his hometown of Providence, Rhode Island. So when his girlfriend, Lucy (Anna Rizzo), gets a promotion and asks him to move with her to Seattle he is anything but supportive. Lucy is torn between Todd and her career. Out of thin air, Todd’s evil twin arrives and sends him to a parallel universe without anyone missing him. The Other Todd says and does everything Lucy had only dreamed of, including agreeing to move to Seattle. She is thrilled. Only Lucy’s brother, Dave (Sean Carmichael), suspects things aren’t as they seem.
 
Meanwhile in a parallel universe, Other Dave, his mustachioed doppelganger, struggles to believe his down-and-out friend and eventually to help Todd open his eyes and go home.
 
Sci-fi and low-budget are not inherently a good combination but Schulbaum makes it work. The film is a laudable first feature effort by this first-time feature director. Themes of love and loss play well against the parallel universe construct and it has a satisfying ending. Shot in Rhode Island in twelve days, the filmmakers made the most of their meager resources. Schulbaum manages to pull off the blend of sci-fi and comedy well, writing sympathetic characters with believable story arcs and conceivable universes. Technical aspects at times were a little rough but once you’re invested in the characters and their world it’s easy to go along for the ride.
 
The cast works well together in engaging the audience. Notable performances include Rosen. He pulls off amusing distinctions in his portrayal of both Todd and his ruthless twin, Other Todd, who will stop at nothing to be with Lucy. Erin Rose as Lucy’s friend Abby and Carmichael shine playing off each other – particularly during an argument where more is said with her face and his mustache.
 
The film is a refreshing contrast to the higher octane films out there this season. It will play at film festivals across the U.S. to be announced soon.


Film Review: 'The Wrong Todd'
Reviewed at LA Film Festival, September 24, 2018.
Rob Schulbaum, Writer/Director/Editor
Anthony Ambrosino & Ric Murray, Producers
(90 min.)
Starring Jesse Rosen, Anna Rizzo, Sean Carmichael, Derek K. Moore, Erin Rose

María Margarita López has covered arts and performances for paintthisdesert sister blog, viewfromaloft, since 2011.  She is a film producer and co-founder of AjuuaEntertainment,  plus consulted and produced media under her company ValorFilms  since 2005.  López and Fuentes have been working together on varied projects ever since they worked in the section of windowless rooms at Variety.

EThe Donna Beam Gallery will be contributing to the UNLV College of Fine Arts Annual Art Walk with ¡Americanx!, the first group exhibition featuring local Latin artists – perfectly suited for a campus that has been moved to the top of U.S. News & World Report’s annual listing of the most diverse universities in the nation. A rush of PR was based on the 2018 list that had UNLV -- with an enrollment of “Hispanic” students reaching 29 percent -- in a three-way tie with Andrews University and Rutgers University. Just released is the 2019 list that places UNLV in a two-way tie with Rutgers.
 
That gives “¡Americanx!” multiple layers of meaning and intent.
 
“I had thought about organizing an exhibition of Latino artists off and on for several years.  But it was on a smaller scale of maybe one, or two, or three artists,” said Jerry Schefcik, director of the Donna Beam Gallery, who was eyeing touring exhibitions of Latin and Chicano art, including those featuring the Cheech Marin Collection.
 
There has been interest from UNLV to present contemporary art from the Americas. In 2015, “Through Windows, Through Curtains, Call On Us,” curated by Art History Professor Robert Tracy, featured the work of four  Cuban artists, making that UNLV’s first group show focused on Latin works. Yet, local artists were not given many ways to think local exploration of Latino/a/x works would be noticed as contemporary art, or if there would be a chance to presented as a group, as seen in other urban art cores around the Southwest.
 
If there has been change, that must be credited to UNLV alum Justin Favela, who has increased his national reputation as an artist and raised the profile of the area with the podcast Latinos Who Lunch, which he is a co-host and co-producer with art historian Emmanuel Ortega. A few weeks before the opening of my thesis exhibition in Spring 2018, I adjusted it to focus on Post-Chicano art themes and was noted as the first solo Latinx Art exhibition.
 
Now Schefcik is leading the charge through "¡Americanx!, which is co-curated by UNLV Faculty member Salgado and myself. Between the three of us, we shared information on Latino/a/x artists producing works in the region. The list grew quickly. “I was aware of a number of artists, but I knew that there were probably more that I was not aware of.  There are probably more still that I don't know about,” says Jerry. “It was exciting to learn of Latino artists in Vegas, and the possibility of a second edition of this show is good.”
 
The artists in the region are not just representing Las Vegas natives and transplants, but other Latin American countries, which shifted to the idea that the final works were not just specific to Chicano art themes. “The definition of artist expanded too.  The addition of pop culture artists in this venture in an exciting element of this exhibition,” says Jerry.
 
 
¡Americanx!
October 1 – 27
EXTENDED TO NOVEMBER 21
The Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery
Opening Reception: Friday, October 12, 5 p.m. – 9 p.m.
(During the Second Annual UNLV Art Walk)
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Artists: Omayra Amador, Yasmina Chavez, Orlando Montenegro Cruz, Natalie Delgado, Lolita Develay, Justin Favela, Ed Fuentes, Tony Gomez, Adolfo Gonzalez, Karla Lagunas, Raymond “StingRay” Pratt, Krystal Ramirez, Fernando Reyes, Miguel Rodriguez, Checko Salgado, Javier Sanchez, Sunday Slackers, Jess Vanessa, Luis Varela and David Velix.