Art-O-Mats!

I am very behind on my blog, as I was away for two different multi-night trips, back to back, and am off tomorrow on another (Calistoga, then Vegas, and Harbin is next), so there's not much chance I will get caught up anytime soon, but in the meantime, here's a little tidbit.

I checked out a new casino in Vegas this time - The Cosmopolitan, part of the new (and somewhat controversial) City Center.  It was definitely on the more classy side, heading right over to almost elegance, and, in my opinion, really setting the bar high in its use of art.  Art everywhere.  Cool large art, lovely spaces, the world's biggest chandelier - which was really a three-story bar with crystal all around it; a light fixture you could drink in.  Video art overarching the slot machines.  Everything done just so, with thoughtfulness and care and deliberation.  Even the public spaces were full of interesting, one-of-a-kind furniture (like a Scrabble table: tiles in a giant glass case) and uber-hip accouterments.  It was a visual delight.

But the part I was most attracted to - in fact, I became almost obsessed with it - was the Art-O-Matic, an old cigarette machine that has been converted to sell tiny one-of-a-kind art pieces.  Each little box is full of something - you don't know exactly what, beyond the vague description they give you ("Abstracts by a Four Year Old" or "Original Collages on Wood").  Mini-quilts and lithographs and watercolors and earrings and tiny comics. 

Here's what the hotel's website says about their partnership with art:

COLLABORATION: To build the most meaningful collection imaginable, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas is collaborating with several organizations that share our perspective on art and agree that it should not be an intimidating or esoteric domain only appreciated by experts and scholars. From the Art Production Fund, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to help artists realize difficult-to-produce works while expanding public participation and understanding of contemporary art, to Art-o-mat, whose mission is to increase art consumption and believes that art should be progressive, yet personal and approachable, to our own Artist-in-Residence program, we have assembled, and will continue to assemble, like-minded, best-of-breed partners that will help us serve as a catalyst for creativity and culture and inspire interest in art and music.

I was winning that night and so I decided it would be more fun to buy art than to gamble, and so I sprung for six of the tiny surprise packages (at $5 each - not too bad!). It was fun and addictive to be buying these little bits of funky art.  I read each little description with care, trying to decide - so hard!  I wanted all of them!  I found five Art-O-Mats, all over the hotel, and tried to ration my purchases so I would get the BEST possible art from each machine!  I did go practical and get some earrings and a keychain.

I especially loved that many of the artists listed their hometown on the small placard showing the description of the items.  You could get art from El Paso or North Carolina or Seattle - your choice, whatever you facny.  Inside, many of them were carefully and charmingly packaged, with small-scale shredded paper or miniature seals, or tiny notes.  It was all so adorable.

And what a great thing - so often I travel and there's nothing to BUY that you couldn't have more easily ordered online. You go to Paris, or even Cairo, and so much of what is sold is plastic - mostly from China. I try to buy local whenever I can but it's getting harder and harder to find something unique. But everything in the Art-O-Mat was exactly what I wanted: relatively cheap, personal, totally one-of-a-kind, and, best of all, it was ART. I am such a champion of small-scale art. Ukuleles in the living room, and $5 paintings in cigarette boxes, dispensed as they used to be, by pulling one of those long levers. The art just drops right out. What more could you want?