Amid the neon, slots and showgirls, these Vegas artists found time to create

GROWLING tigers, ostentatious costumes and bold and brightly hued landscapes are all sights one might expect to see in Las Vegas. But contrary to Sin City’s recent ad campaign, not everything that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. All of these subjects are featured on canvas and other media at “Las Vegas Diaspora: The Emergence of Contemporary Art From the Neon Homeland,” a group show that opened at the Laguna Art Museum last Sunday.

The varied 56-piece exhibition, which originally debuted at Las Vegas Art Museum in November, is the brainchild of renowned art critic and show curator Dave Hickey.

“I just wanted to demonstrate that art can come out of Vegas as well as just come in,” says Hickey, referring to impressive collections like Steve Wynn’s that have recently helped re-brand Sin City as a world-class art destination.

For Los Angeles native Hickey, ties to Sin City stretch way back: “Vegas has a big resonance with me because my dad was a jazz musician and a great deal of his friends ended up in Vegas,” he recalls. “We would go there and visit his friends and play the casinos.”

Two decades ago, Hickey raised his stakes on the location when he and his wife decided to relocate to Sin City during the fledgling Nouveau Vegas days. In 1990, he began teaching at UNLV’s art department (he’s now an English prof), where he recruited and nurtured young talent from big cities like New York, Miami, L.A., Singapore and London. “I ended up with rich kids and poor kids,” he says. “I had taggers from East L.A. and bankers’ sons from Singapore.”

Today, 26 of Hickey’s former art students -- many of whom went on to successful careers in New York and Los Angeles -- are now on display in this exhibition.

The diverse demographics are reflected in the show’s eclectic pieces, from the almost tattoo-like spray paint and paint marker work “Clash of the Titans” by Gajin Fujita, to the sleek “Step (In) Out” by Tim Bavington, a piece that looks like a homage to Ellsworth Kelly. The collection, says Hickey, is stylistically varied, ranging from complex Oriental imagery to “L.A. low temperature abstraction.” But the common motive behind all the pieces, he adds, is “to look at Vegas as an artist and to refine what’s there as something different.”

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LAS VEGAS DIASPORA: THE EMERGENCE OF CONTEMPORARY ART FROM THE NEON HOMELAND

WHERE: Laguna Art Museum, 307 Cliff Drive, Laguna Beach

WHEN: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. daily, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. first Thu. of the month; ends June 1.

PRICE: $10

INFO: (949) 494-8971; www.lagunaartmuseum.org