Vegas (1989-2004)
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Fission Convention

Fission Convention

Fission Convention

1989

My first use of a color copier was to copy the first bomb card. If the copy was good, more people might have a chance to enjoy the image. It was only when I saw the quality of the copy that the notion occurred to me that I might make my own version of the card.

My new version of the bomb card was printed as a new postcard and sold as a fundraiser for American Peace Test. From the gates of the Nevada Test Site, the cards were carried to Europe, Israel, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Brazil, and Japan.

A crowning achievement was for the card to be offered for sale at The World's Greatest Gift Shop on the Strip.

The postcard is in the collection of the Nevada Test Site Museum.

Everyone wears a hat

Everyone wears a hat

Everyone wears a hat

1991

We can be cowboys and Indians and Bedouin and all of us can drive pink Cadillacs under the benevolent crown of European royalty.

Crossroads

Crossroads

Crossroads

1990

Building Venice on wood pilings set in a swamp was a technological equivalent of later cities built in deserts. The presumption was that the effort was bound to fail unless it was continually under repair.

"Venetian Gothic architecture is a term given to a Venetian building style combining use of the Gothic lancet arch with Byzantine, Ottoman, and Phoenician architecture influences. The style originated in 14th-century Venice, where the confluence of Byzantine style from Constantinople met Arab influence from Moorish Spain." (Wiki).

Three Adjacent Vegas Resorts

Three Adjacent Vegas Resorts

Three Adjacent Vegas Resorts

1991

The MGM was built at the same time the Excalibur was also being constructed on adjacent corners of the Strip, (both designed by the same architect, Veldon Simpson.) It was a moment when a simple narrative might have been sketched between the resorts' themes.

Paolo Uccello is not likely to be regularly associated with Vegas. I used his typical compositional style to construct this picture.

Pekingese Desert Inn

Pekingese Desert Inn

Pekingese Desert Inn

1998

Cold Comfort

Cold Comfort

Cold Comfort

1998

Curlique

Curlique

Curlique

1998

Flamin Last Resort

Flamin Last Resort

Flamin Last Resort

1995

Tourist Zone

Tourist Zone

Tourist Zone

1994

At Caesars', I'm an ancient Roman and probably wear a toga. At The Mirage, I'm a Polynesian and probably wear a grass skirt. Between resorts I am ethereal, undefined, without context.

Touchdown

Touchdown

Touchdown

1991

The curvature of the dam invites the eye to imagine trajectories. This is the most simple possible collage; made of two images. The moment when images blend is when collage occurs.

Water Grab

Water Grab

Water Grab

1993

Neon Museum

Neon Museum

Neon Museum

1992

Probably Vegas' Fremont Street is the most concentrated exhibit of neon signage in the world. It would benefit from much more neon. Mount signs high in the sky. Build a neon-based frame in front of it to invite people inside.

Primm valley Neon Museum one

Primm valley  Neon Museum one

Primm valley Neon Museum one

2004

An ideal environment for neon is set against a vast dark sky such as there is around Primm, at the Nevada and California border. 200' or 300' vertical stanchions might serve as signage armatures.

Primm valley Neon Museum two

Primm valley Neon Museum two

Primm valley Neon Museum two

2004

Neon Valley

Neon Valley

Neon Valley

2004

Neon Tide

Neon Tide

Neon Tide

2004

Neon Tower

Neon Tower

Neon Tower

2004

Neon yellow silver foil

Neon yellow silver foil

Neon yellow silver foil

2004

Neon diagonal blue Skies

Neon diagonal blue Skies

Neon diagonal blue Skies

2004