MGM Resorts has acquired new pieces for its public fine art collection with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. Works by Rashid Johnson, Sanford Biggers, Derrick Adams, Ghada Amer, Jonathan Lyndon Chase, Tomás Esson and Svenja Deininger are now showcased alongside existing works by artists like Sam Gilliam, Lorna Simpson, Nick Cave, Jenny Holzer and Nancy Rubins throughout MGM Resorts' properties.
The company's goal is to provide an extended platform for artists of color, women and the LGBTQIA+ community.
"We believe in the power of art to open minds, change perspectives and create transformation in society," said Ari Kastrati, MGM Resorts' chief hospitality officer. "The addition of these talented artists to our portfolio reflects MGM's commitment to championing inclusion and ensuring that the collection more closely mirrors our diverse communities. That commitment is central to our company's core values and is imbued in all that we do."
New artists within the collection include:
Rashid Johnson
Johnson melds photography, sculpture and painting to inspire conversation on race and class. Using materials that correlate to moments in history, Johnson aims to create art that can serve as a bridge to cultural barriers. MGM Resorts acquired one of Johnson's three-dimensional wall works from the Cosmic Slop series comprising black soap and microcrystalline wax, which are melted together and then hand-poured to create unique surfaces. The work is located on Aria's promenade level.
Sanford Biggers
Biggers' work offers perspective on key moments in American history with a focus on overlooked cultural narratives from a social, political and economic standpoint. Last summer, Biggers' bronze sculpture, Oracle, was on display at Rockefeller Center. MGM Resorts acquired a smaller-scale bronze sculpture of Oracle (2021) which has been installed at Aria, near the resort's self-parking entrance.
Derrick Adams
Adams is a painter who uses pattern, collage and a bold palette to create iconic graphic paintings of Black culture. In his Floater series, Adams depicts figures relaxing in pools of water, suggesting that respite is a political statement when embraced by Black communities. MGM Resorts recently commissioned a new mixed-media painting from Adams' Floater series, currently in production. Upon completion, the work will be installed at Park MGM, near the resort's pool entrance.
Ghada Amer
While Amer's art spans painting, cast sculpture, ceramics, works on paper, garden and mixed-media installations, she is known for her expertise in depicting women through the medium of thread. MGM Resorts acquired two of Amer's works featuring acrylic, embroidery and gel medium on canvas from her series The Women I Know Part II. Amer's works are featured within Bellagio's Spa and Salon.
Jonathan Lyndon Chase
Chase's artwork focuses on the nuances of queer Black life in portraits, showing subjects in various aspects of domestic life. Featuring painting, collage and drawing, Chase's canvases often portray floating heads and bodies overlapping against colorful, ambiguous backdrops and explore how closeness is essential to community connectivity. MGM Resorts acquired Chase's work The Cook Out (2019), featuring acrylic paint, oil paint, spray paint, oil stick, marker and graphite on canvas, which is located at Park MGM, adjacent to the resort's lobby.
Tomás Esson
Esson was born in Cuba but migrated to the U.S. in the early 1990s. His works are often inspired by the cultural challenges of the 1980s. The mythical creatures portrayed in Esson's paintings are grotesque and have an identity of their own, free of illustrative references and weaknesses. MGM Resorts acquired Esson's oil-on-linen works Quimera (2021) and Anestesia (2018). Quimera is positioned just outside of the Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Garden and Anestesia is displayed in the resort's VIP Lounge.
Svenja Deininger
Extended time is crucial in the composition of Deininger's work: beginning with an initial visual concept, through a gradual process of juxtaposing patterns, tones, shapes and memories from a vast archive of art historical references, Deininger's configurations finally emerge. Deininger's paintings reveal a carefully measured system of superficial treatments of shapes: a series of patient gestures of painting, scraping, polishing, and repainting. MGM Resorts acquired a painting from Deininger's new body of work. The Untitled piece is displayed in Aria's Carbone restaurant.
"Acquiring works by Rashid Johnson, Sanford Biggers, Derrick Adams, Ghada Amer, Jonathan Lyndon Chase, Tomás Esson and Svenja Deininger propels the MGM Resorts Fine Art Collection significantly forward in our goal of giving voice to underrepresented artists," said Tarissa Tiberti, executive director of MGM Resorts Art & Culture, in a statement. "We look forward to sharing these important pieces with our guests from around the world and sparking conversation around all they represent."