Las Vegas Weekly

The Place to be

A view of Place Gallery, 1045 S. Main Street.

Photo: Steve Marcus

As Arcade Fire blasts from a CD player in her office, Gina Quaranto can't stop smiling as we tour Place Gallery, the space she curates in the Arts District. While all the walls are blank (and being repainted), Quaranto excitedly details the plans she has for this month's First Friday. The main gallery will host painter Cuca Refugia's acrylics on wood. "She hasn't shown for many years, so this is very exciting for us," Quaranto gushes. In the east gallery toward the back of Place, artist Vezun will show his fine art in pastels on paper in a show entitled Eerie. The artistic diversity will continue in the side gallery, where sculptor/comedian Jesse Smigel will sculpt in foam while entertaining the audience. In addition, Downtown mural artists, including Kry, Who and Beta, will conduct live painting while also showing some of their more well-known works. Oh, and there will be a DJ.

Although the building that houses it is more than 50 years old, Place is still in its relative infancy, and Quaranto, a native New Yorker who's been part of Las Vegas' arts scene for the last 20 years, has been in charge since October. Despite the unimproving economy, Quaranto has nothing but optimism for the future of arts in Las Vegas. Even the city's new Sculpture Park across the street — which, conspicuously, has no sculptures — can dampen that enthusiasm. She embraces all styles, acknowledging some in the arts community don't necessarily feel art should "entertain," but that she disagrees. Even her gallery dècor has touches of an "anything goes" style, including austere furniture donated by a German museum next door that never actually opened its doors.

Bottom line: Quaranto loves what she does, and wants others to share that feeling. "I want people to be excited to see art and come back next month," Quaranto says. "Art exists, it's here in Las Vegas."