Everyone knows the land-based casino as a venue that brings entertainment, a venue where you can play table games, a venue where you hear all sorts of bell sounds and so on. But the casino isn’t just about playing and gaming. A casino can also have brilliant paintings, sculptures and whatever the art world comes to exhibit. A prime example is the Bellagio from Las Vegas, which was turned on a number of occasions as an art gallery.
Masterpieces at Bellagio
Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, is very well- known in the world of art as Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art. Major art exhibitions happened here and the resort continues to define itself in art. From the reviews, people claimed that just by walking into the reception area, you feel like in an art gallery. In addition, Dale Chihuly’s glittering glass chandelier found on the ceiling is just a start.
After you get past the chandelier, you are heading straight for the Fine Art gallery. Annually there is an exhibition, giving the chance for visitors to see something new each time they come to the gallery. The collections are not that vast, however they are carefully curated and feature only the most prominent artists in the world.
Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art organises partnerships with museums and foundations from around the world. In the past, visitors could see Picasso, Faberge, works from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Andy Warhol and other well-known exhibitions.
In addition, this year Bellagio will welcome us with Yayoi Kusama’s brilliance fine art. Yayoi is one of the most prominent artists on the planet, and she wants to give viewers a glimpse of their soul. The first installation will be “Narcissus Garden”, which will morph the dots into one-foot diameter spheres. The second installation will be “Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity”, which also relies on repetition and accumulation. The viewer will enter a small, darkened mirror-lined room. The room is dotted with LED “lanterns”.
In the world of art, MoMa is the most popular art gallery in the world. It is known that MoMa exhibits only the best of the best artists. However, Bellagio Casino & Hotel can bring the most elegant of the exhibitions. Bellagio in short, is a resort, luxury hotel and casino, owned and operated by MGM Resorts International. The resort was built on the site of the Dunes hotel and casino.
The resort has been inspired after the Lake Como town of Bellagio, Italy. Besides the casino, Bellagio is also famed for its elegance. One of the most notable features of the casino is a lake between the building and the Strip, which houses the Fountains of Bellagio. The fountain is a large dancing water which is synchronized to music.
Bellagio is also known for its poker room. Many professional poker players chose to play at the Bellagio poker room. They like to call it “The Office”. Bellagio has also partnered with the World Poker Tour to host most of their tournaments.
Borgata Fine Art Gallery
Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa is another well-known casino venue from Atlantic City that organises art exhibitions. However, Borgata is popular because of its architecture style. His golden glass tower can be seen from miles away in Atlantic City. In addition, besides the Ballroom, Convention Center and Theatre, Borgata added a Fine Art Gallery too.
Borgata is also popular for organising shows that attracted a few acknowledged musical artists like Cher, Britney Spears, Kings of Leon and others. In addition, last year the famous Beatles drummer, Ringo Starr had a show at Borgata at The Music Box theatre. Borgata also hosted a pop-up art gallery that featured pieces created by Ringo. Besides Ringo, Dale Chihuly has also added some of his artworks around the casino.
It seems Bellagio isn’t the only casino that has the artwork of Chihuly. Borgata has also hosted a contemporan glass art, with Chihuly leaving behind in 2003 a collection of blown glass sculptures and chelandier. Ever since then, people are welcomed with an exquisite chandelier in the main lobby of the building. While the colourful columns are adorning the casino entrance.
Art Definitions Outside the B&M Casino
When we are looking into the idea of art and casinos, we think that we can see it only inside a casino. However, in the history of art we learn that the art is more than just physical masterpieces. Well-known artists, like Zdzisław Beksiński and David Hockney changed the medium of their art. They experimented on computers until they created virtual masterpieces. The evolution led to the creation of computer art designers.
Today we are very familiar in seeing logos, photo manipulations, brand designs and of course, websites. In the 90’s a website was colourful, limited, slow and not quite the best colour choice. With technology evolving, so did the websites and people that create them, web designers.
In order to get the attention needed from the public, a brand needs to have a modern, simplistic logo that is able to look good and easy to remember. Besides the logo, which is the most important brand signature, are the websites. A website has to be fast, good looking, as modern and simplistic as possible. The colour wheel needs to be limited and of course the colours have to look good with each other.
In our case, a casino, similar to Admiral Casino, has a well known logo and because everyone is connected towards a screen, a well looking website. Besides a logo, the website is the other face of a casino. The design of a website will welcome its users and it will give the first impression. If the impression is positive, it means that the design was good.
Usually it is up to the designer to create a template or choose existing ones in order to create a website, depending on the wishes of the operator. Some people like a traditional, standard design, while others love the idea of innovation and smart look. However there are some general rules, the key-word is user-friendly.
The website has to load quickly, from whatever region it is accessed. A casino website, requires a sign up and sign in template, everything is about security too. Even the registration process has to be easy and simple. Games has to be easily navigated. And the home page could display a variety of widgets, just to be careful not to make a heavy load, otherwise the website will work slow.
Today, a website has to be responsive, mobile friendly. Back in the 90’s or the beginning of the 2000’s, people didn’t cared of mobile interaction, today they do. Another important aspect of a website, even if it’s a casino or not, it has to show somehow credibility and trust. On the casino part, the home page displays licenses, certifications and important partnerships.
