STREET ART LAS VEGAS – April 12, 2019

Photographers William Shea and Patrick Lai release the first-ever photo documentary about the Las Vegas street art and graffiti scene with the intention of creating awareness about the unseen talent and hidden benefits that street art contributes to the art community. The 8 x 10 book is made up of 200 pages and consists of 252 high-quality full-color images. The project time frame covers several years, with photos from all parts of the valley and the Life is Beautiful Festival. Introduction by writer and journalist Ed Fuentes.

Street Art Las Vegas is the next installment in what was originally known as the Fade to Gray series. The title has been redesigned to include additional works by prominent street artists that were featured during the Life is Beautiful Festival. Street Art Las Vegas will be available in stores worldwide.

The unseen talent and hidden benefits that street art contributes to the art community is being highlighted in a new book documenting the art form in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Street Art Las Vegas includes murals and other works by well-known street artists, such as Shepard Fairey, Tristan Eaton, D*face and Retna, to creations by anonymous artists and those without a signature style. 

Las Vegas photographers William Shea and Patrick Lai spent countless hours researching and photographing street art throughout Las Vegas and surrounding areas, including abandoned mines. Street Art Las Vegas is the culmination of their efforts from July 2012 and through to September 2018, and is scheduled for release this spring by Smallworks Press, an independent publishing company specializing in limited edition, exquisitely printed books focusing on contemporary art and culture. 

Street Art Las Vegas expands on Shea and Lai’s Fade to Gray, the well-received first ever photo documentary about the Las Vegas street art and graffiti scene published in 2013. This new work takes into account a new appreciation by the public for the art value of graffiti and street art, particularly with the 2013 debut of Life is Beautiful, the now annual music and art festival in downtown Las Vegas. The three-day event features work by prominent international street artists and has continued to grow, becoming a symbol of unity, optimism and creativity.

Shea says: “With Street Art Las Vegas, we want to continue to show the artistic value and expression of street art against the Las Vegas canvas and create more awareness about this organic art form in a way that hadn’t been captured here before Patrick and I started documenting it. Life is Beautiful created more acceptance and a new lens for street art that had not previously existed, in addition to amazing work by very talented artists. One of the abandoned mine sites is particularly notable in that the art is permanent on the structure. It was made by a cutting torch and can only be removed by demolishing the source. Traditional street art and graffiti can be painted over, hence our earlier Fade to Gray title.”