As most of you know I just wrapped up a nine night painting trip to Las Vegas with Borbay. Contrary to popular belief we not only managed to survive, but we painted hard. Flying to a destination to paint raises the stakes. Time is limited, the conditions are unknown, and the unexpected will occur.
We started our mission to paint Vegas with one definite painting, the Welcome to Las Vegas Sign. We encountered menacing painting conditions and a circus of visitors. Let me take you there…
The dry heat, blazing sun, and multidirectional dust filled wind was fierce, so I started with a quick compositional sketch.
Time to dive in with the paint. These were the quickest drying paint conditions I’ve ever experienced. Sometimes the paint would dry on the brush before I could put it on the canvas.
First major compositional decision to move the sign higher.
Our first Elvis visit. Borbay’s canvas is on the right.
Starting to really get rolling with most of the canvas touched.
This woman came to the sign to take a picture with her baby bump. I took a quick break to show my support.
Now that the composition is mapped out its time to start adding the details.
Time to add some palm trees, which always reminds me of this painting. At this point I’m starting to feel the painting really come alive.
Action shot of a happy Borbay showing off his dirty fingers. Stay tuned for his finished painting.
I loved the purple mountains in the background so I decided to feature them on the right side of the composition instead of a bunch of mismatched buildings. It was at this point that I realized this painting would incorporate my interest in the relationship of man, nature and technology. I’ll explain more at the end.
I started to add shadows in the last image, but painted over them when I decided to not capture the scene at that time of the day. And thats a wrap for our first day painting in the desert.
Before going to sleep I realized I lost paint that fell out of my easel on the walk home to the hotel. I knew I lost at least four tubes of paint. I decided it was worth a solo walk to look for the paint. Here are two night shots I took of the sign. On my night mission I found one tube. The next morning on our way to the sign Borbay found another tube. 2 of 4 tubes recovered, Hooker’s Green and Violet.
The beginning of day two started with the text in the sign and deciding to get rid of Mandalay Bay in the middle of the background.
Taking a moment to step back and look at my painting from a distance. I also wanted show you guys another Elvis.
Working on the grass, the path, and the road. I selected a composition that invites the viewer into the landscape. I talk more about this at the end.
Time to lock in the time of the day and add shadows again.
A picture of Borbay taking a quick break on the astroturf. See my hat to his left? I had just gotten up from laying down myself. It felt so good. See the canvas in the lower right hand side? That is of our local painter friend Jerry Shawback. We met Jerry on our first day when he came by to see what was going on and ask if he could join us. We met up with him early morning on day two. He turned out to be a great guy and painted with us for the rest of our trip.
It took little time for us to enmesh ourselves with the tourists and local people that frequent this must-see destination. Colorful 4/20 weddings, a preggers chick with “Vegas Baby” painted to match the sign on her belly, a consortium of Elvis’ and conversations with a dope photographer by the name of Gilbert fueled us as we painted. Gilbert showed up towards the end of our second day of painting. He came by to tell me he found paint we left yesterday and stashed it by the bus stop. Ten minutes later he returned with my other two missing tubes. 4 of 4 recovered. Thanks G-man!
I met Sheila and Veronica when Sheila asked me to paint her a tattoo. I was in the zone, but at least she didn’t ask me if I would do a caricature. It turns out Sheila and Veronica are very cool. They will rejoin us later in the week in a much sexier setting, stay tuned for the Broadway Bares painting update.
Sheila and Veronica posing under the sign after the tattoo.
Welcome to Las Vegas, 24 x 24 inches, acrylic on canvas, 2011.
And here is the finished painting.
The iconic sign from 1959 signifies you are entering this man made oasis in the middle of the desert. An oasis that continues to grow with each resort trumping the next. As I painted the sign I realized how beautiful the natural surroundings were. I decided to eliminate all of the resorts in the composition. A vintage throwback image of Vegas. There are three ways of entering the image. The grass on the left is a soft resting spot, the dirt in the middle weaves back and forth, and the hard cement on the right zips right into the background. We may be getting “there” faster, but what are we missing along the way? Which path are you on? Which path is American society on?
Painting on location is a beautiful experience. It’s a race against time as the light is continually changing. Being anchored in one spot all day, often days, allows you to learn things about a foreign location that you don’t even know about the street you live on. The location becomes a living entity. One thing for sure is this location was alive in full Vegas glory.
Here is Borbay’s finished painting. Learn more about his painting and his process by visiting his blog.
View my other Las Vegas paintings:
End Of An Era, The Sahara | 20 x 20 inches | acrylic on canvas | 2011.
El Cortez Hotel & Casino
El Cortez Hotel, 600 Fremont St, 24 x 24 inches, acrylic on canvas, 2011.
Broadway Bares: 2 Hot, Las Vegas Live Painting
Bares Cares, acrylic and ribbon on canvas, 20 x 20 inches, 2011.
Check out this great time lapse video of Las Vegas that includes us painting, by Allan Gange.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Planet Hollywood — Las Vegas, NV – April 23, 2011 — Time Out New York’s Most Creative New Yorker, Location Artist Borbay, and Artist Ari Lankin, will be painting live, at Planet Hollywood, Las Vegas for ‘Broadway Bares‘. Sharing the stage with Vegas’ biggest stars, including co-hosts Holly Madison and Josh Stricklan — their resulting 75-minute paintings will be auctioned off to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
About Borbay
Upper East Side artist Borbay has painted edgy portraits and famed locations around the world, including The Guggenheim, TriBeCa Grand, Woolworth Building, Elaine’s, Chrysler Building, Hancock Tower (Chicago), Runaway Bay (Jamaica) and San Marco Cathedral (Milan). His architectural impressionist collage paintings have been featured in Time Out New York , Wall Street Journal Japan, New York Post, Whitewall, The Huffington Post, The Source and more.
About Ari Lankin
Lankin creates bodies of work in different visual styles ranging from conceptually based abstraction to photorealism. There is nothing he can’t paint. Lankin worked at The Guggenheim, produced a shoe with Adidas, and has collaborated in a wide variety of projects. “Life is my muse. We make things with tools and ideas. The show travels with us wherever we go.” Ari lives and works in Manhattan.
Ongoing Vegas Action
Lankin and Borbay have painted the Welcome to Las Vegas Sign, and will be painting on Fremont Street tomorrow, prior to the charity event. Follow them live on the Twitter hashtag #VegasLive
April 5 – April 30
Klimat Lounge
77 East 7th Street | Manhattan
Many museums in and around Manhattan feature artists who have long since exchanged their studio for a coffin. This group exhibition will showcase eight different, living, breathing and working New York artists. From photography to encaustic to paint to silk screen — this collection envelopes a spectrum of media in colors ranging from stark to vivid.
The opening reception will take place on Tuesday, April 12, 2011, at 7:00 PM.
Please click here to read the press release.
Artists
ZEPEDA | SESLOW | SERAFINO | PENN | McMAHON
Acquisition
To inquire about acquiring any of the works in this show, please contact Borbay.
Select Works
MAHLER
PENN
BORBAY
SESLOW
LANKIN
SERAFINO
Draws His Face Around NYC 4-2-2010, New York – When I take a walk in the city I see a lot of faces. Hardly ever am I encountered with thousands of drawn faces by an artist. Today I found myself stepping over a new face every foot of my walk on Park Avenue in the low 20′s drawn by artist Felix Morelo.
I entered the path of faces at about number 1,860. I knew this because Felix Morelo was kind enough to write the number and his name every 10 faces. Every once in a while he circled an area and designated it a “good luck spot.” Check out the pictures for the good luck spot after face 1,205 and other numerical milestones. Come to think of it I even saw them somewhere else earlier in the day, but was in too much of a hurry filming with Seamus Brown to stop and photograph them.
After the film shoot I hurried over to Cheim and Read for a glorious viewing of Donald Baechler’s most recent work. The work was sexy, refreshing, and bold. Huge layered/collaged paintings and epic bronze metal sculptures. I should probably write another blog post just on that show. Go check it out!
Thanks Felix.
It’s great when you hear about an artist, look them up, and then are totally into the work. I just formally met the late (1930-1999) Lee Lozano via the world wide web. I was particularly interested with this image. I want to thank a kind curator for suggesting I take a look after I showed her some of my recent plug paintings.
Lee Lozano
Untitled
1963
Picture courtesy of artnet.com
