Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
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The Saltmans acquired this work by JeanMarc Bustamante after it was on display at the Venice Biennale exhibition in 2008. "MICHAEL AND I GIVE ART TO EACH OTHER TO MARK SPECIAL MOMENTS IN OUR LIVES." —Sonja Saltman THE LOVEBIRDS Photographer Alexander Dwyer persuaded these locals of Bichlalm in the Austrian Alps to sit for portraits. Fans of Minimalism and figuration, Michael and Sonja Saltman's collection consists mostly of gifts and mementos from their almost 40 years together. "I t's a very personal, very intimate collection," says Sonja Saltman, before a row of works by American art giants William T. Wiley and Richard Tuttle. "Michael and I give art to each other to mark special moments in our lives and to honor our personal milestones." An inviting, companionable feel fills the home of Michael and Sonja Saltman. Located in an exclusive high-rise, the apartment, with its chic white décor, offers a contemplative refuge from the city and the perfect backdrop for an international art collection spanning almost 40 years. With a major paint-on-stainless-steel piece by the Arte Povera genius, Michelangelo Pistoletto; a key paint-on-glass work by Jean-Marc Bustamante; an iconic Jim Campbell LED matrix device; and an ethereal vase-sculpture by master glass-artist Lino Tagliapietra, the Saltmans—one of Las Vegas's most prominent philanthropic couples—are also among the city's most prominent collectors. At the literal heart (and start) of their collection is a gorgeous blue and white Joe Goode series, Torn Clouds (1972), which Michael spotted at the Tate and gave to Sonja as a wedding present. It hangs over the master bed and seems to call to the "torn clouds" in the Southern Nevada sky. "This is as far as you can get from decorator art," Michael says, gesturing to the entry hall/gallery stretching almost the full length of the apartment. "Everything here has a close attachment to our lives. I'd never sell any of them, ever. I can't. They're close friends." Of the two tendencies in the collection—toward the rarified lucidity of Minimalism on the one hand, and subtle figuration on the other—Michael clearly sides with material purity. "I'm totally about the industrial look of perfect symmetry," he says, referring to a Christian Eckart low-relief sculpture, Circuit Painting (2004), a metal circle with a 69-inch diameter whose morphing patina changes color with the viewer's position. On the opposite wall, the beguiling Painting #98, a deep-blue monochrome by Rudolf de Crignis, rewards careful examination with vibrating azure depths. As managing general partner/president of the Vista Group, a real estate development firm, Michael has an expert's appreciation for use and application of materials—paint, metal, glass. Sonja's concerns lie more in memory and imagination. Formerly a practicing psychotherapist for more than 20 years, she is drawn toward emotional works, such as Michael Gregory's 37 North (2003), a riveting hyperrealist painting of an imaginary farm silo in flattened perspective. "There's a hint of something," she says of the Gregory. "It's deceptively simple, but when you look closely, it reveals incredible complexity—very nuanced and mysterious. And that invokes a kind of passion in me." While many pieces in the Saltman collection have international pedigrees, others were collected locally, where the couple have made a significant, durable contribution to the arts and to the community by supporting the Black Mountain Institute, the Discovery Children's Museum, and the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, among many other institutions. Michael also served as chairman of the McCarran Arts Advisory Committee and as chairman of the Council for a Better Nevada. "Vegas made this collection possible," Sonja says, referring to the Saltman's 37-year residence in Southern Nevada. "Our collection may not be typical of Las Vegas, but it is very much our Las Vegas." VEGASMAGAZINE.COM 088-095_V_Feat_Art_Win13.indd 93 93 1/2/13 2:50 PM