INTERVIEW with NEON SALTWATER as she brings a digital oasis to the real world, Downtown Las Vegas 2022

The up-and-coming digital artist and designer Abigail Dougherty, better known as Neon Saltwater, travelled from Seattle to Downtown Las Vegas, invited by female curator group Justkids to freshen up a 1930’s gas station on Fremont Street. The artist breathed new life into the vintage architecture by transforming the building into a beautiful retro landscape rendered in dreamy colours bouncing off bright fluorescent neon lights. Notorious for her rooms and space renderings, Neon Saltwater’s digital images come forward in a

non-virtual 3D dreamscape titled Mystery Cruise 1990 and provide the viewer with a natural environment created by an artist whose work is mainly known on a screen. This colour-saturated make-believe world of Neon Saltwater portrays nostalgia and euphoria, central themes in all of her works, effectively striking a chord with the digitally-raised Gen Z generation and their love for all things the ’90s and the resurgence of the Y2K aesthetics.

“In an era where many artists go from the physical to the digital space, we thought it would be interesting to export Neon Saltwater’s cyber wonders into a non-virtual art experience, not just on a screen, but in a tangible public art form. Physically manifesting Mystery Cruise 1990, an exclusive digital rendering space with dreamy colours, neon lights, and spooky ’90s vibes, into an immersive piece outside of a social media platform is almost like a paranormal experience and so satisfying for the Neon Saltwater’s fans like myself.” Charlotte Dutoit Justkids Curator and Director.

This mind-meltingly good installation was created for the latest Life is Beautiful Festival edition, curated by Justkids. Since its first edition in 2013, Justkids has consecutively curated the Art Program for the Music Festival, changing up the event footprint into a colourful playground and creating a growing portfolio of artworks that the local community and its visitors can enjoy, aiming to enhance this under-utilized space and encourage more pedestrian activity in the area, even after the fun is over.

Neon Saltwater talks about her vision, her beginnings in the arts, and what inspires her to create.

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by Donna via GraffitiStreet