A mile away from the glitzy Las Vegas Strip is the newly-renovated Palms Casino Resort that is jam-packed with over 150 modern art masterpieces, contemporary art commissions and vibrant street art murals.
Creative Directors Tal Cooperman and Aaron Seymour-Anderson’s “Dust to Gold” project is part of the casino’s $620 million USD renovation that is changing the way we experience art. Instead of being confined to a white wall gallery space, momentous works fill every crevice of the casino such as Damien Hirst’s severed 1999 sculpture The Unknown (Explored, Explained, Exploded) that sits in the center of the luxurious Unknown Bar. The 13-foot-long sculpture has never been exhibited before, and surrounding it is a stunning selection of nine multicolored spot paintings from the iconic British artist’s ongoing “Pharmaceutical Spot” series.
The Hirst works are only scratching the surface of the collection. A triptych of early Basquiat paintings entitled “Speaks For Itself,” rare screens prints by Andy Warhol, a life-sized Companion sculpture by KAWS, a large-scale Flowers painting by Takashi Murakami, as well as massive murals by REVOK, James Jean and Felipe Pantone are also observed inside the casino.
“We wanted to create something for a new generation,” said Cooperman. View select artworks above and then check out REVOK’s machine painting on the Palms rooftop in the video below. For more information on “Dust to Gold,” visit the Palms’ official website for the project.