FOLKS WHO LIKE TO MAKE THINGS

I was talking with a pal, an LA artist whose mind, opinion and works I greatly respect. We were laughing about current art world norms. Almost as an apology, he said with a sigh, "I dunno. I just like to make things."

DESERT-HO!

Hella Heizer had been on my mind lately, before I saw the recent New York Times Magazine piece on the man, which you can find in our current curated issue. It is a beautiful, plainspoken profile.

Michael Heizer was not cut, but ripped, from a very old and no longer made, sailcloth. Reading the article, I kept thinking, with every example, that he is the world's most amazing son of a bitch. In the old school tradition. A real asshole. Truly. And I say that with a toothy grin and great fondness. Talented desert demon SOB.

The article takes us to many places we rarely think about. The desert. And it is ancient. The desert is so colorfully black and white. As I read, film director John Ford popped to mind. Clark Gable in "The Misfits." John Huston. Hollywood once romanticized the desert. Michael Heizer lives it. Ornery. Cantankerous. Desert rat. Hot and cold on a hard day of perpetual extremes.

And just when you want to really hate him, you learn that Heizer, the sandpaper-charming antagonist, has a border collie named Tomato Rose. (Heather Harmon, Exec. Director of the LVMA, introduces Tomato and speaks of her friendship with Heizer in her recent essay, Click Here.)

Of course, Hollywood tells us that every son of a bitch has to have a bit of gold hidden in their black hearts. Tomato Rose may be Heizer's. It won me over. I'm rooting for you Michael.

He is an artist who really likes to make things. Age has slowly hampered his ambitions, but those embers still burn very hot, and loud.

Out of all the artworld's amazing, easy-to-reproduce and profitable mediums, this artist chose Land Art. How the hell are you gonna put that in a freeport? *Sigh* Oh Michael.

Heizer was born cinematic. There are two film works I'd like to see. (Film because all other mediums are just too small and simple. Heizer belongs on a Las Vegas Sphere-sized screen.)

The first is a neo-western. Hard. Tough. Making Land Art. Paul Thomas Anderson ("There Will Be Blood") could do it. The rest of Hollywood are too flagellated.

The second would be a screwball comedy. Damn shame Preston Sturges is dead. Contemporary Hollywood is too humorless.

Loaded with laughs and sight gags, a cantankerous, contradictory Heizer bulldozes through the Gagosian empire and then burns down art academia like it was Atlanta. That would be funny. And of course, one Gagosian intern, pampered and privileged, is assigned to the artist's whim. Common sense and life lessons are learned.

I think I'd title-it "Desert-Ho!" It needs the exclamation mark, as a ref to the cry of a wagon train master. As a matter of fact, when the intern tries to plead out of the Heizer assignment, Larry interrupts with a finger pointed outside and commands, "Desert-Ho!"

 

DESERT ARTISTS

Speaking of the desert, we have a free gift for you. Since y'all are one of our Art Report Today Golden Diamond Club free subscribers, we wish to present you with a gratis digital copy of the just-released "Defining the Las Vegas Artist, 2025-2026." Click Here.

32 essays by artists and creatives establish a western ethic with a collection of their lives, as working artists, at this time, in a very unique and interesting place.

We really scored with a quality line-up. The artist Reverend Ethan Acres has composed a prayer, which begins, "O' God of Neon and Ruin..." Polymath Brent Holmes serves as a welcoming ambassador to the arts in the city. There is an interview with Darren Johnson whose annual curatorial efforts are Olympian gold worthy. 29 other essays all spark bright and true.

Click Here for a free digital copy. If you find this book of value, please share it with others.

The Vegas 32: Reverend Ethan Acres, Robert Beckmann, Erik Beehn, Frederic Bonin-Pissaro, Mark Brandvik, Diane Bush, JW Caldwell, Zoe Camper, Daniel Chenin, CouperRuss, Lolita Develay, Laura Esbensen, Katie B Funk, Nancy Good, Michelle Graves, Gordy Grundy, Heather Harmon, Brent Holmes, Charlie Huffer, Darren Johnson, Yoko Kondo Konopik, Lance Mazmanian, Javier Sanchez, Jay Shively, Sean Slattery, Hills Snyder, Deanne Sole, Brett W. Sperry, Michael Stark, Eric Strain, Michael.Patrick.Thieme, and Jeffrey Vallance

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