Seven Magic Mountains: Visitors would come and go during the time I spent at the Seven Magic Mountains in the Mohave Desert near Las Vegas, Nev. The crowds would range from a dozen or so to well over 100 during the time I spent at the exhibit. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Framed In Orange: A purple base and a large curved orange boulder frame other mountains as visitors mingle and take photos of the artwork. While all of the colors were neon dayglow, the reds, yellows, and oranges really glowed and attracted the most attention. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
By GARY WARREN
Photographer
Formerly of Los Alamos
When you travel around the country as we do, you see and discover some unexpected and unusual sites along the way. I will even search travel guides and the internet to check and see if something interesting is on our planned route.
These are the attractions that really get my attention and get me excited.
Some of the roadside attractions are fun and playful exhibits of talent and imagination and some are quite extraordinary. Some are simple while others are quite complicated exhibits.
I first spotted the Seven Magic Mountains in 2016 while driving on Interstate 15 from California to Las Vegas, Nev. They were stacks of very colorful rocks in the middle of the Mojave Desert visible from I-15 but a fair distance from the Interstate; farther than I was willing to walk not knowing whose property it was on or anything else about it. I stopped and put the zoom lens on my camera and took a few shots from the side of I-15. Now I was really curious and wanted to find out more as there was no information or signage on the Interstate or close by that gave any clues.
I later found out that what I saw was a public art installation and was free for anyone who wanted to visit. There were some directions on how to get to the artwork, but I ignored that since I was back in Denver by this time.
We were in Southern California in March 2021 and I finally was going to visit the Seven Magic Mountains. That all changed when we stayed a couple extra days on the coast, and we wanted to make other stops in Arizona on the way back home. I was disappointed but unable to drive over 100 miles out of the way to see the art and to make it worse, the art was scheduled to be removed by the end of 2021.
Seven Magic Mountains was installed over a period of time and finally opened May 11, 2016. The exhibit was scheduled to last two years and then be removed. Due to popularity, the exhibit end date was changed to 2021. At the end of 2021 it would be gone.
Once again, due the popularity of this unusual exhibit, at the end of 2021 the exhibition was given another chance to live on in the Nevada desert. I was happy to read this late last year and I knew we were going to be in the area in 2022.
The Mohave Desert is a dusty bland brownish color with some hearty and brave desert vegetation trying to add to the landscape color but not having much luck. That was the backdrop for the Seven Magic Mountains. A neon colored stack of boulders all properly arranged against the Mohave Desert backdrop. Your eyes can not miss them!
As I looked closer at directions, the artwork is only about 10 miles south of Las Vegas. You can reach the art by following Las Vegas Boulevard out of town or by driving out I-15 south to the artwork. Signage on the Interstate now direct visitors to the art location.
We visited the Seven Magic Mountains Saturday, May 14 and were surprised to see a parking lot at least the size of a football field almost full of vehicles when we arrived.
The art exhibit is seven towers, totems, stacks however you wish to describe it of huge boulders painted in vibrant, neon colors. The exhibit is about 500 feet from the parking lot but an easy walk on a well worn path to reach the exhibit.
In researching the exhibit, the maker of the artwork is Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone who lives and works in New York. The exhibit is produced by the Nevada Museum of Art and Art Production Fund in New York.
The bright colorful towers of boulders look like colored marshmallows, cotton candy, big colorful totem poles and many other descriptions as they brighten up the desert. The exhibit required a fleet of heavy construction equipment and were put in place with a crane.
In simplistic terms, the mountains are made with huge boulders that were trimmed and cut to size, cored for a center stabilization pole, and lifted into place with a crane. The boulders were painted after they we installed in place. There are seven mountains, or towers, which range from 30 feet to 35 feet high. Thirty three boulders were used to construct the seven mountains and each boulder weighs 10-25 tons! These are some big rocks.
The beautiful array of neon, dayglow paint is obviously what attracts you to the artwork. However, the more you walk around and look at each tower, it really required a lot of engineering to construct each of these mountains.
The Seven Magic Mountains are “photographic candy”. One wants to take the towers together, then separate, then details of the work, etc. I spent almost two hours out in the desert, in the middle of nowhere, taking photos of painted rocks!
However, I was not alone out there. Hundreds of other visitors were all doing the same thing. Many were taking “selfies” with their smart phones, taking photos of each other or others in their group, or even alone as they photographed the mountains.
Over 1,000 visitors per day average come to visit the Seven Magic Mountains. Over 2 million have visited since installation. There is no wonder that this unusual art installation in the middle of the Mohave Desert has attracted so much attention and still stands after two removal dates.
Another thing I noticed as I began watching the visitors as much as looking at the artwork was everyone had a big smile on their face. They were happy and the worries of everyday life were gone for a few minutes or hours that they spent on site. To have an art installation that affects everyone in such a positive way has got to be a powerful work of art!
Editor’s note: Longtime Los Alamos photographer Gary Warren and his wife Marilyn are traveling around the country, and he shares his photographs, which appear in the “Posts from the Road” series published in the Sunday edition of the Los Alamos Daily Post.
Photographic Candy: The entire Seven Magic Mountains experience is photographic candy for photographers. A new and colorful image is seen with each frame in the camera. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Selfies: Many visitors enjoyed taking selfies of themselves and their group. Many would model while another took the photos. Everyone at the art exhibit seemed to be having a fun filled day. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Wowed By Color: Visitors mingle about the Seven Magic Mountains taking photos, selfies, group shots and just having fun. The art exhibit was intended to run for two years but due to popularity, the exhibit has been extended twice and now is extended indefinitely. More than 1,000 visitors a day visit the free public art exhibit in the desert about 10 miles south of Las Vegas, Nev. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
