LAS VEGAS (AP) - Commemorating a centennial with a public mural
creates an expectation of certain themes - history, culture,
people, industry, progress.

The call for a centennial mural for Clark County, which
stretches across the urban and rural landscapes from Laughlin to
Mesquite, brought in myriad images from various artists.

A public arts committee picked one: The implosion in 1995 of the
Landmark, sliced in half, falling down, a crumbling concrete tower
becoming clouds of dust against a vivid sky.

Created by Brian Porray, the dynamic and charged image will hang
outside the Winchester Cultural Center, an embodiment of the
ingenuity and adaptive quality of the people of the Las Vegas
Valley. The mural is scheduled to be dedicated Saturday, June 20.

Though a forceful work - far from the usual placid landscape or
portrait of the everyman that comes with celebratory anniversaries
- it fits, says Richard Hooker, chairman of the Friends of
Winchester Public Art Committee, which selected Porray's
submission.

"The image suggests a kind of surrender to the future, a
letting go of the past for something new to happen on the
horizon," Hooker says. "Good or bad, that's always what Vegas has
been about."

No taxpayer money was spent on the mural, according to Patrick
Gaffey, a cultural program supervisor for Clark County.

Porray was paid $2,000 for his design. The 12-by-16-foot mural
was funded by the Clark County Centennial Project and the Friends
of Winchester, which raises money for area projects.

For Porray, born in Las Vegas in 1979, the Landmark was
literally a landmark, one of the few visible properties in an area
yet to have tall buildings and megaresorts. He remembers it as
monolithic, a mid-century modern building of the future, built at a
time when nobody had any idea of what the future would bring to
architecture in Las Vegas. Its implosion was featured in the movie
"Mars Attacks" and the hotel is an iconic image of vintage Vegas,
but Porray says most people don't know about the Landmark. Compared
with the Dunes or the Desert Inn, its life was too brief and
unsuccessful to make a splash in the history books.

The Googie-style structure, which stood near the Las Vegas
Convention Center and was part of Winchester Township, reflected
the popular mid-century modern architecture that took hold of Las
Vegas in the '50s and '60s. Funding problems delayed its
construction, and the building sat incomplete for nearly a decade
before opening in 1969. Once opened, it struggled financially. It
closed in 1991 and sat empty for two more years. Its 1995 implosion
was one of Las Vegas' first, preceded only by the Dunes, and set
off the chain reaction of razing the old for the new.

Porray doesn't mourn the Landmark's demise. Contrary to the
chorus of preservationists, he celebrates implosions as part of the
nature of Las Vegas residents.

"The strength of Las Vegas comes from the character of its
people," says Porray, boasting a sense of Las Vegas pride. "Adapt
and modify. The ingenuity inherent of the spirit of the people
here, that edge ... separates Las Vegas from the rest of America.
It's like supernova implosions. You need them because what collects
from the ashes is the solar system and the new sun."

Porray's slightly abstract rendition of the implosion is set
against a bright sky adapted from the Japanese anime of "Speed
Racer" and is literally an inverted racetrack from the video game.
Like most of his work, it's bursting with impact and motion.

This is his third public art project. Porray expects there will
be some issues with the implied violence of the Landmark piece,
titled "Everyone's a Scientist."

"People should be confronted by images that are equally
beautiful and challenging," Porray says. "Public art shouldn't be
submissive. It should engage people in dialogue."

Hooker and others on the nine-member selection committee, most
of whom live in the Winchester area, agree that the piece might be
considered controversial. In the end, its sincerity won.

"This was the one that was probably the most challenging,"
Hooker says. "But it's part of our visual vocabulary of our past
and our future."

Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani, who represents the area where
Winchester Center is located, says that the mural jarred her at
first.

"It's an intriguing piece. It will cause people to think about
our history and learn from our history and make sure we don't
repeat our mistakes. Part of what we need to do is protect what
little we have left. I welcome it," Giunchigliani says.