Up the Ante!
A Casino Project by Andrea Buckvold
January 11 - February 16, 2008
Brandt Gallery
For her exhibition – The LV, NV NFP H-R-C Project – at McLean County Arts Center, artist Andrea Buckvold shares her ongoing conceptual experiment for a not-for-profit, hotel-resort-casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Combining her fascination with the over-the-top aesthetics of Las Vegas with her long time interest in the manifest destiny of the American West, Buckvold has shaped a development plan for a casino, to be built in the expansive manner of Las Vegas’ casinos while qualifying as a green facility, to serve a greater good than corporate profit by funding emerging artists, and to showcase contemporary art and culture.
The exhibition consists of the five developmental phases of Buckvold’s project:
Phase I: Research & Design includes photographs, large and small drawings, prints, architectural sketches of, about, or in relation to Las Vegas, Nevada
Phase II: Incubation includes works on paper that utilize iconic images of Las Vegas and gambling.
Phase III: Models includes three-dimensional architectural sketches.
Phase IV: Translations includes graphically designed abstractions – works on paper, small watercolor studies, and digital prints – of the photographs from
Phase IV: In regrouping and reforming these abstractions, Buckvold creates new compositions that are intended to serve as the textile designs for the casino.
Phase V: Prototypes includes the physical prototypes – carpet samples, quilts, and drawings – from Phase IV’s graphic abstractions.
Andrea Buckvold lives and works in Syracuse, New York. Raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, she received a B.A from The Colorado College, and an M.F.A. in sculpture from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has worked as a gallery educator for the Liberace Museum and Guggenheim Las Vegas/Guggenheim Hermitage, as a children's art teacher, an adjunct professor, a printing assistant for Tandem Press, and an office manager for 3-D Chicago. Prior to moving to Syracuse, Buckvold worked for Carbondale Community Arts, the Lights Fantastic® Parade Committee and Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Her studio practice, which she describes as “in the manner of art, but at a leisurely pace,” has focused on The LV, NV NFP H-R-C Project since 1999. Additionally she creates “silly little experiments of form concept, material, culture, and free time” (visit www.abcdexperiments.com) and works collaboratively with her husband, Chris Wildrick, under the name Earl.
Andrea Buckvold’s exhibition opens with a public reception on Friday, January 11, from 5pm to 7pm, during which the artist will offer a short talk (at approximately 6pm). The artist’s talk and exhibition are generously sponsored by Commerce Bank. The LV, NV NFP H-R-C Project is on view in MCAC’s Brandt Gallery through February 16, 2008.
In conjunction with Andrea Buckvold’s exhibition, MCAC will offer daily screenings of Scott Rankin’s video, Wire. Rankin describes Wire as an investigation of the experience of gambling and the game of Blackjack; its structure and rhythms, its intellectual and emotional ups and downs, and its rituals and lore. Wire blends visual and aural representations of the casino atmosphere and Blackjack, with observations about the game, consciousness, attention, desire, chaos, probability, and ‘human nature’. Scott Rankin is an associate professor in video art at ISU’s School of Art. Wire (1998, NTSC/stereo, 56 minutes) will be screened Tuesday through Saturday at 11am and 3pm and additionally at 6pm on Tuesdays.