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Las Vegas Art: It's Not an Oxymoron

"...To Vegas boosters, this week's inaugural tour--with more scheduled next year--is evidence that Sin City has arrived. The Smithsonian, after all, is arguably the premier arbiter of high culture in America.

"....`To have one of the world's major cultural institutions include us in their programming acknowledges Las Vegas as a dynamic, creative, emerging cultural site,' said Richard Hooker, a "cultural specialist" for the city who led the local tour. `We are now recognized as being part of the important cultural landscape of America.'

"...A cultural tour of Las Vegas, needless to say, is no dreary trail of museums. Instead, stops included:

"...The Venetian Resort Hotel-Casino, where they learned that faces depicted in the statuary and medallions decorating the imposing exterior were modeled after the artists themselves and the children of the hotel's owner.

"A meeting with a sequined showgirl, who explained how she leads a rather ordinary life by day and performs topless by night.

"...Historic neon signs of the 1950s on display downtown, seen by some as an emerging art form.

"...Indeed, many participants said they had previously avoided Las Vegas. But under the wings of the Smithsonian, a tour focusing on the evolution of art in this place, much maligned by highbrows, was too intriguing to pass up.

"...When it added Las Vegas to the offerings, the trip quickly sold out, and the waiting list will fill two more tours next year, said program coordinator Lytle.

"...Among the challenges of planning the tour, said Hooker, was to include `the conflict of art in Las Vegas--the high art, the low art, the popular versus high architecture. Las Vegas is a series of contradictions.'...'

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