Las Vegas I, Las Vegas, Nevada
Known for his photographs of cities, museums, and other cultural destinations, Struth has the rare ability to present the character and contradictions of our own historical moment in a cool, objective light. Many of his best photographs focus on architecture as an expression of cultural values, fantasies, and desires. In this view of the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, the bland façade of a highrise hotel looms over an elaborate simulation of a Caribbean port town. Through careful framing and an exaggerated sense of scale, Struth accentuates the irony of a palm-fringed lagoon in the middle of the Nevada desert, where pirate battles are staged nightly for tourists and simulated spectacle appears more real than reality itself.
Artwork Details
- Title: Las Vegas I, Las Vegas, Nevada
- Artist: Thomas Struth (German, born Geldern, 1954)
- Date: 1999
- Medium: Chromogenic print
- Dimensions: Image: 141.6 × 204.5 cm (55 3/4 × 80 1/2 in.)
Frame: 184.8 × 245.7 × 6 cm (72 3/4 × 96 3/4 × 2 3/8 in.) - Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Gift of Dr. Didier F. Loulmet, 2008
- Object Number: 2008.471
- Rights and Reproduction: © Thomas Struth
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
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