When Amazon built a 147,000 square-foot “delivery station” in North Las Vegas—located at Las Vegas Boulevard and Owens Avenue, a few blocks north of the Neon Museum and just a couple of blocks south of Jerry’s Nugget—all parties concerned knew there would be a lot of street-facing cinder-block wall in need of beautification. City of North Las Vegas officials turned to Jerry Misko, the neon-inspired Las Vegas artist who’s been painting larger works of late—and is actively deconstructing his established style to create increasingly beautiful pieces. His 5,000-square-foot mural, his biggest work to date, has a lot of story to tell, both about the community and the artist himself. Here, in his own words, are some of the influences present in his new mural, titled Aurora.
LIGHTS, SKULLS AND GROOVES
“[North Las Vegas’] Ice Age fossils are important to them, [so] I took their initial thoughts and played with them within what I do. I couldn’t get striations out of my head. … The north-facing part of the mural is abstracted neon lights that reference geological striation and auroras in the sky. … And there are skulls from three of the bigger animals that lived here during the Pleistocene.”
DESERT BLOOMS
“I reached out to the Paiute tribe, and they sent over some information and recommended a couple books. I did some research on [North Las Vegas’] indigenous peoples, the people who lived here for thousands of years, and learned what kind of plants and things made it possible for people live in this harsh-assed environment. All the plants in the mural are important to survival in the desert. … The geometric patterns in the background reference the decorations of Paiute baskets. And the mural’s color spectrum represents the diversity of the city.”
TURTLE POWER
“I’ve got little nods to Jerry’s Nugget and Silver Nugget, because they’re both a big part of the business community in North Las Vegas and have been for decades. There’s an homage to Jerry’s Nugget on the southwest wall and an homage to the Silver Nugget on the southeast. And in-between them, there are a couple of neon tortoises, because you can’t have public art in Nevada without tortoises (laughs).”
Click HERE to subscribe for free to the Weekly Fix, the digital edition of Las Vegas Weekly! Stay up to date with the latest on Las Vegas concerts, shows, restaurants, bars and more, sent directly to your inbox!