Las Vegas - art hunt

Christine and I decided to spend our day searching for free art. We took the bus down to the Aria "campus".

I took this for my brother-in-law, Dave, who loves M&Ms. The store is right by our bus stop.

According to Chris' internet research we were supposed to be able to pick up a brochure, on the art displayed, at the desk at the base of this wooden sculpture (called The Treehouse) that also contained a restaurant. When we asked at the desk she said that they had run out.

We wandered around, guided sporadically by Christine's phone which is on the fritz. Since coming back to the hotel room I have sourced the brochure on line but it is difficult to identify my pictures as the descriptions and locations are rather vague. When I can I will identify the artists. There were few plaques and they rarely mentioned the artists name!

Columns of ice, rising out of a pool

with floodlights changing their colours. No artists listed in the brochure or on the plaque.

Halo, described as twisting water vortices, again had no artist listed.

It invited photography

especially as it also had changing lighting.

The Aria mall area, Crystal Shops, was very high end and the floral and water scaping was beautiful.

This is the Starbucks with sculptured wooden overhangs and inlaid wood flooring.

We were searching for a piece by James Turrell called "Shards of Colour", listed on the document Chris had on her phone;

We assumed this was it, lit "windows" on the next floor up

and when we got there found we were right and that they also changed colour.

We got on the tram that links properties on this section of "The Strip" and found this; Doze Green's "Crossroads of Humanity"

Looking down at the Aria pool area from the tram station.

What looks like convoluted columns in the entrance to the Aria hotel and casino are made entirely of stainless steel by Tony Cragg

and make me want to photograph the twisting and distorted reflected images.

By this point we were hungry and on our way to the Aria buffet that Chris had read was one of the best. While Chris waited in line

I took shots of these

polished and painted stones. No mention of an artist anywhere.

I couldn't find an artists name for these 3 either.

They were also up by the buffet restaurant.

The buffet lived up to expectations with Asian, Indian, Latin, Carvery, Salad, Seafood and Dessert sections. Chris' favorites were the fish tacos, water melon and grilled zucchini. Mine were the artichoke and raisin salad, chicken masala and creme caramel. We opted for the 2 for 1 unlimited drinks special which we could order from a limited menu. As one glass of wine was $12, the 2 of us for $19 seemed like a good idea. When I ordered the champagne (Californian) the waitress bought it in a water glass saying she was too busy to keep going back. There was so much I couldn't even finish it and I love champagne! Chris managed one grapefruit vodka spritzer and ended up tipping her rum punch into her water bottle as a traveller (which appears to be allowed here as everyone is wandering around with plastic cups and beer bottles).