Wynn Magazine - Las Vegas
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/386731
photography peter chmiel (eve) behind the Wynn registration desk and two celebrated sculptures by Jeff Koons: the monu- mental Tulips in the Wynn Theater Rotunda and his 2,000-pound, six-and-a-half-foot-tall Popeye, added this year, who playfully flexes, spinach can in hand, on the Wynn Esplanade. The fact that Wynn is legendary for hav- ing paid, by any standards, enormous sums of money to "accessorize" is not the point of filling his resort with its art pieces. To be sure, Wynn and Thomas select pieces that will imbue the resort with the warmth and ele- gance for which Wynn resorts are known. "But when we start writing checks for $25 or $30 million," he explains, "these are also cultural decisions we're making." When he opened Wynn Macau in 2006, he not only repatriated an extremely rare copper- glazed vase from the 13th century (one of only three in existence) to the Chinese government as a gift, but also acquired a quartet of rare Qing dynasty vases, now displayed in the Wynn Macau lobby. "I said, 'My employees live here. There's a wonderful museum in Macau, and it's not only important that the city expands economically, but also culturally,'" he explains. Similarly, Koons's Popeye and Tulips are cultural statements that celebrate iconography and art production in America. "At four billion dollars, it's not such a big deal to have a thirty-million- dollar tulip in the lobby," he laughs. A favorite pastime for Wynn-watchers is guessing what Steve Wynn will think of next. Tellingly, Wynn points to Tulips, and to the flo- ral carousel in Wynn's lobby: "The theme of Wynn Palace is flowers. We are forever test- ing things we are going to do elsewhere on a grander scale. With each of our hotels, start- ing in New Jersey, then Mirage and Treasure Island, then on to Bellagio, Wynn, Macau, Encore Macau, Wynn Encore, and now Cotai, we have the opportunity to think of something better, to incubate a good idea or to come up with a new one. The pursuit of excellence is a slow, inch-by-inch ascension. And the only people who ever do it are all alike. They love it. They're never satisfied, and they get on every- body's nerves until finally they get on their own nerves, which means they're done." All this, of course, means that Steve Wynn will not only continue to get those magical, pre- opening moments—in which three or four years of creation and curation have come to frui- tion—but he will again introduce another idea to Wynn and Encore. And then, almost inevita- bly, he will begin again. n "The only people who excel are all alike. They love it. They're never satisfied, and they get on everybody's nerves until finally they get on their own nerves, which means they're done." —steve wynn above, from left: Parisian sculptor Joseph Andrau's Eve stands in the Encore Tower Suites; Untitled, by abstract artist Lari Pittman, graces the Wynn registration desk. 30 Wynn STEvE WyNN