Graffiti artist Shinique Smith adds some flavor to the Cosmopolitan garage.
Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2010 | 12:05 a.m.
Cosmopolitan's garage art
When the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas opens on December 15, make sure you drive to parking garage level B5. Then hit B4, B3 and B2. You'll likely want to see the rest of the resort too, but start with the garage. Really, it's worth a visit.
While most casino parking lots are limbo spaces — somewhere between outside and in, often skipped altogether, and for good reason — the Cosmopolitan has decided to make its garage a reflection of the resort's overarching "we're not for everyone" aesthetic with Wallworks, a series of murals by prominent graffiti artists on sections of garage wall. Teaming up with the New York-based nonprofit Art Production Fund, the Cosmopolitan gave each floor over to an artist — from bowels to ground level: Baltimore's Shinique Smith, legendary New York artist Kenny Scharf, LA writer RETNA and renegade-turned-icon Shepard Fairey. Each floor's works are totally different than the next, a product of the no-parameters approach APF and the resort took to the project.
In setting the artists loose, the Cosmopolitan managed to capture ideas rarely channeled into Strip casinos, like the spontaneity of Scharf's freestyle landscape of smiley planes, slot machines and atomic mushroom clouds, or the political sarcasm behind Fairey's bold, patterned work. Surely some will see these murals and be turned off, by their messages, their obliqueness or the very act of celebrating what some see as a nuisance, not an art form. To those people, I say, take another look. If that doesn't do the trick, remember the Cosmopolitan's simple, refreshing message that many a local resort would be loath to broadcast: We're not for everyone. Maybe even not for you.
The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas dares to be different. From the hotel’s red reservations desks to fine art found throughout the resort, The Cosmopolitan’s signature style is helping to pave its own path on the Las Vegas Strip.
Upon entering the resort, you’re greeted by pillars of video boards playing video art by Digital Kitchen and David Rockwell Studio exclusively produced for The Cosmopolitan. Just beyond that, you’ll find all your favorite casino games on the resort’s 100,000-square-foot casino floor.
The Cosmopolitan’s rooms standout as the resort’s most unique feature. About 2,220 of The Cosmopolitan’s 2,995 rooms have 6-foot deep terraces that span the length of the room, a first at a modern Strip hotel. Other in-room amenities include soaking tubs, kitchenettes and quirky accessories like artsy coffee table books.
The dining experience at The Cosmopolitan isn’t something you’ll find at other Strip resorts, either. All of The Cosmopolitan’s 13 restaurateurs are new to the Las Vegas market. You’ll find American steakhouse fare in a modern setting at STK, top-notch sushi at Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill and the freshest fish flown in from the Mediterranean daily at Estiatorio Milos.
Whether the sun is up or down, Marquee Nightclub & Dayclub is the place to find the party at The Cosmopolitan. The venue is a dayclub/nightclub, complete with a pool and cabanas outside and three different rooms with three different vibes inside.
If nightclubs aren’t your thing, you can grab a drink at one of The Cosmopolitan’s five other bars, like The Chandelier, which is encased in 2 million dripping crystals.
— Originally published in Las Vegas Weekly
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy