Capital City Arts Initiative [CCAI]
CCAI Courthouse Gallery Exhibitions

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 1, 2011

“The Radiant City” Exhibition of 5 Las Vegas Artists

Noelle C. Garcia. "Honeymoon #4." 14"x11." 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 1, 2011

“The Radiant City” Exhibition of 5 Las Vegas Artists

On February 11, the Capital City Arts Initiative Courthouse Gallery will open “The Radiant City,” an exhibition of work by contemporary Las Vegas artists Wendy Kveck, Emily Kennerk, Noelle Garcia, Justin Favela, and Catherine Borg. There will be a public opening reception for the exhibition on Friday, September 11, from from 5 to 7 pm. The exhibition and reception are free and all are cordially invited.

“The Radiant City,” co-curated by Las Vegas cultural animator Lisa Stamanis and CCAI curator Jon Winet, borrows its name from an affectionate nickname used by local hipsters for Las Vegas. The moniker makes a nod to both the city’s atomic past and to its glowing neon vistas. The artists’ work in the show reflect the spirit of scientific research that helped usher in the nuclear age, and the glitz and glamour that attracts over thirty-five million visitors annually to Nevada’s largest city.

Wendy Kveck’s exquisite paintings conjure up frothy confections that are a guilty pleasure and a decadent indulgence – all the while paying homage to the aesthetics of abstract painting. Deceptively simple on the surface, at their sugary core is a bright address of notions of femininity and the contested space of the female body.

Justin Favela’s “Estardas," the largest work in the exhibition, most directly references Las Vegas’ signature architecture of excess, while at the same time signaling the changing social and demographic profile of the state. Sure to be a crowd pleaser, his sculpture simultaneously evokes monuments and and unexpected, touching frailty.

Catherine Borg, with a more understated, clinical approach dissects the cityscape and its formal possibilities with a striking study of Las Vegas’ ubiquitous concrete walls that serve both as ornamental objects and the first lines of home security. In a tangentially linked suite of effortlessly elegant mixed-media drawings, Ms. Borg points to the narrative possibilities of the spaces inhabited by the city’s dwellers.

Emily Kennerk's artistic approach more directly suggests the social. For “The Radiant City,” she has reworked visual elements of her exhibition “America's No. 1 Foreclosed City: Las Vegas,” presented initially at the Contemporary Arts Center in 2009. Her work coolly confronts the tragic foreclosure story that far too many Las Vegans are now living.

In paintings derived from family snapshots, Noelle C. Garcia’s paintings hint at a complex domestic story. Her paintings are rendered in a technique that quotes the Palmer Paint Company’s Paint-by-Number kits that were a hobbyist’s delight in the 1950’s; Ms. Garcia manages to marshal this approach without the postmodern irony all too common in contemporary art. She invites us, sincerely, to explore the self, and the intimate relationships of couples and families.

Guest curator Lisa Stamanis comments: “It’s noteworthy that all the artists included in the exhibition work for non-profit organizations, from the City of Las Vegas Arts Commission to the University of Nevada Las Vegas. This coincidence likely reflects our interest in presenting artists fully engaged in the life and culture of this extraordinary community.”

CCAI curator Jon Winet adds: “The Capital City Arts Initiative is honored to produce an exhibition in northern Nevada spotlighting this exciting group of emerging Las Vegas artists. In the process, we hope to encourage greater dialog between artists in the north and south of the State.”

The exhibition continues though May 6, 2011.


The Capital City Arts Initiative [CCAI] is an artist-centered organization committed to the encouragement and support of artists and the arts and culture of Carson City and the surrounding region. The Initiative is committed to community building for the area's diverse adult and youth populations through art projects and exhibitions, live events, arts education programs, artist residencies, and its online presence.

CCAI is funded, in part, by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; Carson City Office of Business Development; Community Foundation of Western Nevada; Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts; Robert Z. Hawkins Foundation; U.S. Bancorp Foundation; Nevada Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities; Carson City Library; CCAI Business Leaders: Allison, MacKenzie, Pavlakis, Wright & Fagan, Coldwell Banker Best Sellers, Dr. Bob Gorrindo, Data Graphics, Pro-Form Labs, Sierra Nevada Association of Realtors, and Vineburg Machining, Inc.

For additional information visit CCAI’s website at www.arts-initiative.org.

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Calendar Listing

Capital City Arts Initiative

CCAI Courthouse Gallery
Exhibition: “The Radiant City” Exhibition of 5 Las Vegas Artists

Exhibition Dates: February 11 - May 6, 2011

Artist Reception: Friday, February 11, 2011 – 5 to 7 pm

Location:
Carson City Courthouse
885 East Musser Street
Carson City

Gallery Hours: M-F | 9 am – 5 pm

Free. Open to the Public

Photo Editors

caption: Noelle C. Garcia. "Honeymoon #4." 14"x11." 2010.
Painting in "The Radiant City," an exhibition of five Las Vegas
contemporary artists at the CCAI Courthouse Gallery.

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