P3Studio 2014 Artist-in-Residence Lineup

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas continues to evolve its acclaimed artist-in-residence program, while remaining true to its original mission with 14 artists confirmed for 2014. P3Studio gives guests the unique opportunity to watch international and local artists at work and to engage with them while experiencing immersive art installations.

The P3Studio artist-in-residence program at The Cosmopolitan enables artists to create projects that are interactive and participatory, giving guests the opportunity to connect at an authentic and personal level. Developed and curated by the resort in partnership with Art Production Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to producing ambitious public art projects, the initiative strives to reach new audiences and expand awareness through contemporary art. Viewers can watch and enter P3Studio, engaging with the artist at work. The program debuted with artist Fab 5 Freddy and has featured artists including: The Bumbys, Jennifer Henry, Jerry Misko, Kurtis Kulig, Lucas Michael, Sean Mellyn, Shelter Serra and many more. P3Studio is open to the public.

Check out the P3Studio 2014 Artist-in-Residence Lineup below:

Alexander Lee (Jan. 22 through Feb. 16)
The Botanical Factory
Lee created a proto-factory setting for a fictional character called The Botanist to showcase the process and results of making nature prints by hand. Leaves from a breadfruit tree were dipped into ink and hand pressed onto sheets of polypropylene creating compositions drawing reference from Polynesian head ornaments and Chinese ink paintings. Guests were invited to consider their own cultural heritage as they learned the story of the breadfruit tree and the process of nature printing by hand.

Alexis Dahan (Feb. 19 through March 16)
If The Game Is The Art, Is Chance The Artist?
Dahan invited guest to play a game of chance based on Gilles Deleuze’s “game theory.” His game, “Lewitt Machine,” transformed their dice-generated chance into an abstract drawing similar in appearance to Sol Lewitt’s work. At the end of the 15-20 minute participatory performance, a coin toss determined if the guest or artist kept the signed drawing that resulted. If the artist won, the drawing was displayed in the studio.

Lucas Michael (March 19 through April 13)
Camera Obscura
Michael invited guests to be photographed by him in his signature Polaroid format. While the Polaroid dried, Michael invited the guest to contribute a secret message, which was immediately obscured by the artist to a collaborative work, while he placed the portrait in a clear sleeve and hung on the studio wall forming a grid representing The Cosmopolitan community. A communal collage workshop allowed guests to further express themselves and was intended to inspire guests to find ways to easily work art into their daily routine.

Pearl C. Hsiung (April 16 through May 11)
Original Face
Hsiung has transformed P3Studio into a digital art workshop where guests view and experience her do-it-yourself video art production. Each week focuses on one of four elements (fire, earth, metal and water) and will result in a looping video piece that endlessly cycles through these agents of process, change and the earthly seasons. Filmed against a black background, participating guests are invited to perform and enact the various seasonal landscapes, natural features and weather elements with their bodies and movements as well as create watercolor backdrops and other elements for the film. The final piece will be displayed on the digital portals throughout The Cosmopolitan following the residency.

Nao Uda (May 14 through June 15)
Your Comments Are Important To Us
Uda invites guests to title large-scaled paintings of her alter-ego “Nu,” encouraging guests to extract from the work what they think it means, not try to understand what the artist intended. Uda will photograph guests holding their given title in front of the painting and displays the titles and portraits in the studio.

Anthony Holbrooke (June 18 through July 13)
Memory Garden
Holbrooke invites P3Studio guests to choose a message or memory and hand-carve it into a stone he provides. These stones are placed into an installation of desert sand to create a ‘memory garden.’ Guests may also walk through the ‘memory garden’ and read other people’s memories.

Todd Duane Miller and JW Caldwell (July 16 through Aug. 10)
Face 2 Face
During their residency, Miller and Caldwell explore the similarity in traits of guests’ appearance through their different artist styles and mediums. First, Miller photographs guests in a portrait studio inside the space. These photos are scanned into a computer, printed in a larger format and cut vertically in half. One half of each photo is transferred onto the wall and matched with another guest’s photo creating a stark composite record of the two faces. The other half of each printout is paired with another printout, and Caldwell paints this pair using the same scale on an opposing wall.

Brian Gonzalez and Renzo Vitale (Aug. 13 through Sept. 7)
Tell Me Your Secrets
Contaminate artists Gonzalez and Vitale invite P3Studio participants to enter a mirrored chamber inside P3Studio and share their secrets. A performer resides in an adjoining chamber and as these secrets are told, they are transformed into music through a sophisticated algorithm. The music is then beamed inside the performer’s chamber inspiring an artistic interpretation and body movement. Additionally, the music brings the overall space to life as the lights within both chambers pulsate and breathe. Cameras are mounted at the vertex of each chamber to capture this delicate body conversation and display it on the exterior windows of the gallery in real time. Besides the tactile interaction with the actual performer, guests can sonically interact with the musical score by whispering their secrets into a microphone that captures signals to create additional textures.

Justin Favela (Sept. 10 through Oct. 5)
Piñatapocalypse
Favela converts P3Studio into a piñata-making workshop and invites the public to help him design and construct piñatas to hang in the space. Participants are instructed to sketch a piñata that represents an exciting memory or event in their life. Favela then hangs each piñata sketch and constructs randomly selected piñatas to display inside the space.

Paula Wilson (Oct. 8 through Nov. 2)
Bazaar
Wilson creates a “faux market of painted delights” inside P3Studio. One area contains stained-glass windows and another painted vessels. Wilson will invite guests to browse, touch and photograph the interactive shops.

Mark Brandvik (Nov. 5 through Dec. 7)
5, 4, 3, 2, 1…
With his guidance and direction, P3Studio guests help Brandvik create an iconic image that is developed, week by week and layer by layer. Participants add color to the transparent surface of the corresponding layer for that week. They can add personal elements such as fingerprints, handprints, drawings or notes in an effort to build up the monochromatic color field for that layer. Each week a new layer is started and completed with a different color separation until five layers are finished, launching the fully realized image.

JK Russ(Dec. 10 through Jan. 11)
House of Paper Birds
Russ invites P3Studio guests to browse through magazines in a Reading Room to assist in cutting and pasting images into collaborative collage works. During her residency, two large-scale collage projects are created, combining surreal collisions of female forms, birds and desert plant life, laced with a strong fashion component, to reflect the sophisticated style of the resort and its fashion-savvy guests. Participants may choose a souvenir from a selection of postcards with hand-collaged elements, signed by the artist.