Embarking on its sixth year, the Life is Beautiful Music & Art Festival unveils its signature art lineup, chock-full of some of the most notable international street artists and interactive installations. Blurring the lines between visual and experiential art, festival-goers will be immersed in an experience in Downtown Las Vegas, far-beyond traditional festival programming during the 3-day event from September 21-23, 2018.
Since its inception in 2013, Life is Beautiful has set the stage for creators of all types to unite in Downtown Las Vegas with the art program directly transforming the festival backdrop.
Charlotte Dutoit of JUSTKIDS (@justkidsofficial) returns to curate the streets with larger-than-life wall murals and installations from global artists, including:
- Marquis Lewis, known by his internationally recognized tag RETNA (USA), will hit the downtown footprint with a multimedia project around his cryptically enchanting and now famed visual language.
- Swedish-born and Paris-bred graffiti artist André Saraiva’s (France) iconic alter-ego, known as Mr. A, has his cartoonish winking smiley face turning up in Las Vegas for the very first time.
- Lakwena (London) brings her iconic kaleidoscope work with a full visual takeover as Life is Beautiful’s artist ambassador, designing the eclectic visual identity for this year’s music lineup poster, and creating her biggest mural project yet, towering over the festival grounds.
- Lisbon environmentalist artist BORDALO II (Portugal) will take over the entire Life is Beautiful ART Motel with Wild Wild Waste, his biggest and wildest immersive animal world of trash to date. The ART Motel has become a festival staple, offering fans the ultimate destination for a creative funhouse. Powered by zappos.com.
- Lithuanian artist Egle Zvirblyte (London) will create an explosive wall on 7th Street with a vibrant take on female empowerment and vulnerability, bursting with shapely figures, color, and feral characteristics.
- Sebastián Velasco (Spain) will take over the downtown festival footprint to create a striking art wall presenting his deep and eloquent interpretation of cities contemporary mythology, inspired by 21st-century concepts around architecture, street culture and a certain idea of urban utopia and its decline.
- The Romanian contemporary artist, illustrator and muralist Saddo (Bucharest) will travel to downtown Las Vegas and create a mural piece featuring a blend of aesthetics, including naturalistic illustrations, pop orthodox, East Europe folklore, hip-hop culture and comics.
AWARE is a United States street artist whose art can also be seen internationally. His work often displays murals containing social or political themes to promote consciousness. AWARE is trained in many mediums but prefers spray paint.
- Contributing artist Luke Pelletier (Los Angeles) has created the official art poster for Life is Beautiful’s 2018 edition featuring his cleverly playful tourists’ lore and cheeky characters. The limited edition art poster will be available for sale at the merchandise stands of Life is Beautiful during the festival weekend and the official website.
Additional elements of this year’s art program include mind-bending virtual reality exhibitions and experiential installations including:
- AREA15 is a wholly re-imagined art, retail, and entertainment complex opening in Las Vegas in late 2019. This immersive bazaar will showcase some of the world’s most unique and dynamic art installations, and some will debut at Life is Beautiful for the first time ever. The main attraction will be Shogyo Mujo– a 12-foot-tall multi-faceted skull with 3D projection mapping-created by BARTKRESA studio in collaboration with sculptor Joshua Harker.
- Tyler FuQua has created the next generation and evolution in robots, Mechan X, to join the ever-so-popular robot Mechan 9, that’s already been a part of the festival experience. Mechan X was commissioned by Life is Beautiful to be a three-year installation in Downtown Las Vegas.
- An audiovisual immersive space designed by Playmodes Studio will introduce Beams – a long corridor of 64 light beams that will play with the audience perception of perspective. Installed in a 240 feet alley, the array of light extends towards the vanishing point, creating the effect of being inside a light and sound corridor towards infinity.
- Tapping into the fans’ sensorial experiences, the design and building technology company STEREOBOT will light up the festival and enhance the experience design of Downtown Las Vegas with compelling structural installations that are 100% sustainable.
- Known as the LED sculptor who lights up the world with color and light, Christopher Schardt will introduce an interactive installation enhanced with 21,600 LEDs, music and psychedelic patterns. Festival-goers will experience a calming yet exhilarating environment that keeps the concert going in a unique environment with perpetual satisfaction. Designers Tomas Toulec and Carl Cosico and certified flame technicians DirkSchmidhofer and John Duncan present a Life is Beautiful first with the most astounding carnival game, FireSkee Ball. The flame effect art piece will have the actual skee ball lanes open for play.
Additionally, Life is Beautiful’s very-own Crime on Canvas art exhibit returns for the third year. Curated by M Modern Gallery, owners Jay Nailor and MiShell Modern enlist some of the world’s most prominent artists, allowing festival-goers a chance to view and purchase original artwork and rare prints. The gallery will display work by Mark Ryden, Brandon Boyd, Paul Frank, Norman Reedus and many more.
Capping off Life is Beautiful’s extensive art offerings is the ever-so-popular art figure collectibles display by 3DRetro. In collaboration with some of the biggest and well-known pop and urban artists from around the world and on the festival lineup, 3DRetro will provide limited edition, custom-made collectibles available during the 3-day event.
Life is Beautiful continues to elevate its festival art program and sets the bar with unparalleled access and experiences to some of the world’s most sought-after artists. Offering a new perspective through inspiring installations and murals year after year, Life is Beautiful’s open-air gallery is a scene to be seen amidst the myriad of music, comedy, and culinary happenings.
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