A look at Art in the Bellagio

Fiori Di Como" by Dale Chihuly

One of my favorite places I like to go to is  Las Vegas. No matter how many times I go I always walk through the Bellagio because it's one of the main hotels, but they also have much art placed around the hotel. One of the main pieces that stand out to me in this hotel is the art the assortment of flowers created by Dale Chihuly titled Fiori Di Como, a piece of  art that we see on the ceiling. The flowers are a glass sculpture that looks like a garden of beautifully colored glass flowers that seem to grow on the ceiling of the Bellagio.

Video capturing the sculpture on the Bellagio Ceiling

Chihuly is an artist that has redefined glass sculpture as an art. The sculpture consists of 2,000 hand-blown glass blossoms that weigh about 40,000 pounds. They are supported by a 10,000-pound steel armature according to Las Vegas Journal review. I think its interesting to go beyond how we see some art publicly displayed. We always see art on the wall and sculptors placed on the ground or at eye level. Las Vegas is a city of tourist and much traffic of people gathering around to take in the sights, so for an artist to have viewers in awe of a piece of art that hovers above them. It's something you can't miss. The piece screams to be view with its vibrant colors and each glass flower interacting with another. Also important to notice is the bright lighting also that pulls the viewer into the piece. A sculpture that remains in the mid long after one leaves the city of sin.

                "Through the Looking Glass"

"Through the looking glass is a video I watched discussing his art process with glass. He looks to

push the forms in glass to an organic form that happens naturally. In looking at his glass sculpture at the Bellagio, I like seeing the organic form in the glass as each blown piece of glass becomes a flower. Its something that takes your eye because the sculpture extends the length of the lobby ceiling. You almost would miss it if you didn't look up, but once you do its a sight to see. It's great to see how organic forms in nature can inform different medium especially once such as glass. Glass is a medium that is hard edged and looks sharp, but once an artist such as Chihuly works it, the glass becomes soft and seems to flow over the forms taking glass beyond its original look.