Archer's Vegas photos capture disappearing seediness

Here is an area where motels once enticed drivers into the city with offers of a bed and a pool with names such as the Blackjack Motel, Eden’s Hotel or the ever-tempting Par-a dice Motel. And if they planned to stay awhile they could stake a longer term plot at the Gambler’s Trailer Park or even at Trailerdale.

Nowadays, this area is all but forgotten. In fact, many of these old motels are being torn down and the land reclaimed for more pressing needs such as strip malls for the ever-burgeoning population of America’s fastest growing metropolis.

Archer has managed to both preserve and celebrate some of these vignettes with his upcoming solo exhibition at the Galerie Le 1040, co-sponsored by the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC) as part of its MISC Goes to Town series of cultural events held across Montreal.

“We are proud to co-sponsor this new artist’s exhibit,” comments Dr. Will Straw, acting director of MSIC. “Our annual conference is on the theme ‘Are we American?’ It deals with the place of Canadian culture in the North American context, and a major focus of our events all year is the strong interaction between Quebec and Las Vegas. The success of Celine Dion, Cirque du Soleil and Robert Lepage in Vegas is one sign of these close connections. John Archer’s photography is one more example of the ways in which Las Vegas has been an inspiration to Canadian artists.”

What inspired Archer to pursue this theme? “I went to Vegas one weekend for a quick break with a friend of mine who loves Texas Hold-em poker," he says. "While he gleefully played away I drove our rental car to an area I somehow innately felt held photogenic potential. I drove along Fremont street and started to come across these beautiful motel signs in an area that was, frankly, quite scary. Lone streetwalkers worked some blocks while at one of the pawn shops. I came across five police cars with a man being handcuffed while he called out instructions to his daughter holding her infant sister.

But from an artistic point of view," he adds, "I felt this area and the motel signs in particular, held incredible potential.”

Curated by Visual Arts Centre director Victoria Leblanc, Archer's exhibition harkens back to an era where small motels had a vital role in refreshing and recharging weary gamblers as opposed to the huge casino/hotels of today’s Vegas.

Yes, this area of Fremont Street is, in fact, somewhat gone, but thanks to Archer’s stark yet inviting images of pastel pinks and blues, not forgotten.

'Once Vegas: Motels, swimming pools and trailer parks', a photography exhibition by John Archer runs from Dec. 18 to 23 at Galerie Le 1040, 1040 Marie-Anne E. Vernissage is Tuesday, Dec. 18 from 6 to 9 p.m. For additional information please contact John Archer at 514-516-1716 or johna.archer1@sympatico.ca. For more information on the MISC’s conference “Are we American?” visit www.mcgill.ca