Las Vegas Chronicles: Elvis Plays The Slots

I just returned from a thoroughly entertaining 48-hour stay in the greatest people-watching Mecca of all time: Las Vegas.  While others visit Sin City for the gambling, I spend my time walking up and down the strip gazing in awe at the variety of humanity passing before my eyes.  I'll stay out there all day, sketching and snapping photos of interesting faces while occasionally bursting out in laughter and embarrassing myself.  While all faces interest me, it's those who've become grand caricatures of themselves who cause me the most delight.  Such is the case in the sketch above. 

Leaving the hotel at 7:00 am, I walked through the casino and spotted an Elvis Presley look-alike sitting alone in front of a dazzling slot machine. The glow from the screen lit his grizzled face as he stared empty-eyed into the vortex of spinning 7's while clinging a cocktail and smoking a butt.  My heart literally pounded in my chest as I beheld this Gift From The Universe appearing before me.  It wasn't enough to sketch him. I knew I needed proof that I saw the ultimate Las Vegas caricature, so I deftly pulled out my camera and snapped a photo as evidence.  Medium: Circus Circus pencil and Keno crayon in sketchbook, digital color.

I was nervous using my camera inside the casino, so I worked furtively and made sure the flash was off.

Comments

[Darron]

Recently visited Sin City after avoiding it for >25 years out of pure fear. Endlessly fascinating. They're all there - newlyweds, "girl's weekenders", "guy's weekenders", Russian mobsters, German tourists, Curious French, strangers making out, and everyone else from the rest of America searching for the dream. Disneyland with no open container laws and smokers galore. Hell, I'd go back!
48 hours is about the right duration...

[Viper Tetsu]

It's like a frame grab from some great lost Ralph Bakshi-gone-noir cartoon. Funny and sad and tobacco-stained in its loveliness, all at once.

[Liberal Communist Pig (AKA Bradley Armpit)]

Now that you have a picture of an Elvis simulacra in it's natural congruent habitat perhaps you could do a series of pictures of Elvii (I believe this is the plural) in incongruous situations.

An Elvis impersonator running a support group for recently indigent Hedge Fund Managers or demonstrating the latest in Cloud Computing concepts,could be possible scenarios for resituating this iconic totem.

As for the picture,it's a beautiful ruse,a too perfect confabulation,a tall tale from a strange town.

In short,a lie.

The way the subject sits there,like a weary monolith cast into morose silence by the ill winds of chance,seems like a contrived triumph of mythology over the real.

The contrived triumph of mythology over the real could be a metaphor for Vegas,or indeed a recent election result,but this image seems too composed. The blurring of the photograph to signify a stolen moment,indicating a form of vérité,the fact that the subject actually looks like a piece of Americana even without his Elvis ensemble makes this seem as staged as a picture of the Yeti or the Loch Ness Monster.

So come on Fourteen fess up.How much did you pay that homeless guy for some pictures,or was he just happy with the chance to sit in a Casino for a while?

[midevil]

I do this too! I take a sketch book around and do quick caricatures of people at bars and stuff. One of my EX friends said I was cruel and mean because I do it. I don't think so - I do them of myself too!

Beautiful art, 14! I love how you chose blacks and greys to present his essence!

[Cornwall Wallcorn]

Liberal Communist Pig (hey, I thought that was MY name!):

Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye - I SWEAR that guy was real. How else do you explain the blurry photo? I was shaking so much in excitement that I couldn't hold the camera steady.

Midevil:

From one people watcher to another: POST YOUR DRAWINGS!!! I too have been drawing people I see in bars, at public events, in all-you-can-eat buffets, etc. for years. I'm going to post them eventually and encourage you to do the same. Don't listen to people who call you mean and cruel. People are endlessly fascinating and worthy of documentation and for me, drawing them comes from a place of love, not hate. I'm sure it's the same for you.

xoxo
14

[Sweet Subversion]

The drawing is far superior to the picture! You go! I can't wait for you to learn animation.

[Vern]

It's not the blurriness that makes it look real, it's the man's concentration on the slots. The man knows he looks hot, it's effortless, he doesn't have to think about it, so he can totaly lose himself in the spinning numbers.

[Yetused]

It's so beautiful it pains my heart.

Thank you.

[Kai]

You'll be happy to know (I think) that this guy showed up in my dream last night. I was in an Elvis costume lit up with LEDs everywhere, flashing ridiculous hand signs, and when asked to explain myself, I said "I'm the guy in 14's drawing, but like... amplified!" Yeah. If anyone could ever see my dreams, I'd feel very sorry for them...

[Vern]

Actually Kai, you looked HOT in the suit...ooops.

[Alli]

Love your artwork, I have been checking it out for years.

Just wanted to let you know, for future reference, that you can take pictures in the casino. I took hundreds last time I was there in any case and no one said a word to me :)