Public Art or Themed Entertainment in Las Vegas

Las Vegas in general and the Las Vegas Strip in particular can be understood as presenting a unique portrait of urban entertainment and themed venues (Hess, 1993). At issue in the proposed research study is the question of whether the new hotels, casinos, decorative elements, and art collections that are to be found on the Las Vegas Strip are examples of a new aesthetic in public art or whether they simply represent a new approach to themed entertainment.

Public art has been characterized by Redstone and Redstone (1981) as an expression of the multifaceted character of a society. In the United States and in most other countries, the idea of ôpublic artö tends to encompass paintings, sculptures, fountains, buildings, murals, and other structures that serve the function of fulfilling a spiritual need and which are positioned in publicly owned spaces after having pa

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his has literally ôfreedö art and artists from the conventions of public art as it was once understood. That being said, however, most discussions of ôpublic artö in a commercial or business context such as that offered by Redstone and Redstone (1981) have continued to link recognized art forms created by de facto artists (and some architects) to a public aesthetic function. This leads to important questions: Is the StripÆs Eiffel Tower ôartö or themed entertainment? Does, for example, CaesarÆs Palace and its forum-like shopping mall constitute a locus for the presentation of art works (statutes, mosaics, and so forth) or merely employ cultural and iconographic symbols to establish a theme in which commercial activity can be facilitated? Are visitors to Bellagio and other Strip hotels and casinos truly encountering art, even when viewing putatively great words of painting and sculpture? Is there a meaningful aesthetic to be found in the structures and collections of the Las Vegas Strip, and what is the relationship of this aesthetic to the commercial function of the Strip? While this shift in construction of public art has occurred and can be observed, it is important to recognize that a traditional ôcommonsö was a publicl
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Las Vegas, Vegas Strip, Redstone Redstone, Art Deutsch, las vegas, public art, Definition Terms, Vegas OÆBrien, Las Vegasà, Mount Rushmore, Senie Webster, Plan Study, vegas strip, las vegas strip, hess 1993, ôpublic artö, art collections, castleman 1997, phillips 1992, art public, art las vegas, redstone redstone, redstone redstone 1981, denton morris 2001, york harper collins,
Approximate Word count = 6960
Approximate Pages = 28 (250 words per page)

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