The Las Vegas Art Museum presents a solo exhibition of new photographs by Thomas R. Schiff that were made in Las Vegas between 2000 and 2007. They each provide dramatic sweeps of 360 degrees or more, made possible by Schiff’s use of a Hulcherama 360° Panoramic Camera specially mounted on a tripod able to telescope up to 20 feet in height. The resulting images are rare and luminous vistas that capture cinematically the ambience of Las Vegas’s dazzling architectural attractions and spectacular distractions from the Strip to Downtown, and beyond.

The Thomas R. Schiff: Vegas 360° exhibition is presented in celebration of the publication by BrightCity Books of Schiff’s book “Vegas 360°”. The book, which features 64 full-color illustrations of the Las Vegas panoramas, debuts in conjunction with the opening of the exhibition. “Vegas 360°” represents Schiff’s fourth published collection of panoramic photographs.

The photographs are complemented by odes to Las Vegas penned by five of Las Vegas’s most astute observers, including Phil Hagen, award-winning editor of Architecture Las Vegas; Matthew O’Brien, author of “Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas”; photojournalist Benedetta Pignatelli; Kim Thomas, author of “Vegas: One Cop’s Journey”, and “Dope Opera” (forthcoming); and Douglas Unger, author of “Leaving the Land, Voices from Silence”.

Also included are a note from Schiff that illuminates the artist’s methods and motives for creating the photographs, and an introductory essay provided by internationally acclaimed cultural critic Dave Hickey. In his essay, Hickey declares Shiff’s panoramic photographs to be “a gift to us all…” revealing the 360° design logic that is “otherwise available to none but dizzy drunks and dervishes.”

Schiff has been taking photographs since receiving his first Kodak Brownie in the fourth grade. He studied photography and art at Ohio University, where he completed his business degree in 1970. Although Schiff has used a variety of photographic formats over the past 40 years, he has been working with panoramic cameras almost exclusively since 1994. His works have been presented in numerous solo exhibitions, including shows at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Westcott House, Springfield, Ohio; Richard M. Ross Museum of Art, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio; and American Architectural Foundation/Octagon Museum, Washington, D.C.

LVAM is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, and is closed Mondays. General admission is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors 55 years and older, and $3 for students 13 years and older; children 12 and younger enter free when accompanied by an adult. For more information on exhibitions, membership, and education programs, call (702) 360-8000, or visit www.lvam.org.

Thomas R. Schiff: Vegas 360°
October 25 - November 30
Las Vegas Art Museum
www.lvam.org

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