The Las Vegas Art Museum (LVAM) is pleased to present the exhibition Looking Closely: Victoria Gitman Paintings and Drawings, a survey of recent works by Miami-based artist Victoria Gitman, and the artist's Las Vegas debut. The intimate exhibition of Gitman's paintings and drawings will be on view in the LVAM West Gallery through April 27, 2008.


Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Gitman renders objects and images in small-scale paintings and drawings with extraordinary verisimilitude. Various series of paintings have been devoted to vintage estate jewelry, vintage beaded purses, and reproductions of postcards and Renaissance paintings. A recent series of drawings reproduce 19th-century French paintings and drawings.


The artist strives to reproduce objects with a taxonomic exactitude that represents the idiosyncrasies of each individual piece of jewelry or purse. Using Old Master-style oil painting techniques on an intimate scale, Gitman's paintings invite the viewer to look closely at the intricate details of each object and the pristine surface of the painted panel. Her small graphic renditions of larger drawings echo a master's sureness of line while possessing the concentrated delicacy of a miniature.


Gitman was born in 1972 and moved to Miami as a teenager. She received her B.F.A. in painting at Florida International University in Miami, and continues to live and work in South Florida. Her work has been exhibited at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach; the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego; Praxis International Art in Mexico City; and the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C., among many other venues. She is represented by Daniel Weinberg Gallery in Los Angeles and David Nolan Gallery in New York.


The exhibition is organized for LVAM by LVAM director Libby Lumpkin. The exhibition will be accompanied by a full-color, illustrated exhibition catalog, which includes an essay by art critic Leah Ollman.


The exhibition is made possible by LVAM's Joyce Mack Exhibitions Fund and James and Michelle Zeiter Exhibitions Fund. Additional support is provided by David Nolan Gallery, New York and Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles.


The Las Vegas Art Museum 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, please call (702) 360-8000, or visit www.lvam.org.