Track #3: Neal Portnoy Gallery @Downtown Vegas
The master at work. (Image: Vegas 411)
I always love to explore parts of town that are easy to get lost in. Consider the industrial (and hardly picturesque) area downtown south of Charleston and just east of the 15 where the streets have names like S Highland Ave, Western Ave, and Industrial Rd. This is where you’ll find the Punk Rock Museum, Hard Hat Lounge, the gentlemen’s club Little Darlings, and a truly hidden gem known as the Neal Portnoy Gallery. Open since 2016, it’s a 3200-square foot space with multiple theme rooms including ones named “Las Vegas Entertainment” and “Endangered Species.”
They built this city—the Las Vegas Mob. (Image: Vegas 411)
Here you’ll see what the Worcester, MA-born Neal Portnoy is well-regarded for: eye-popping illustrations and caricatures of mainly entertainers and sports figures, many associated with Vegas. Thanks to his felt marker virtuosity and buoyant personality, Portnoy impressively gets to the heart of his subjects.
Portnoy was also a former illustrator for the Las Vegas Review Journal (2016-2018) where his caricatures regularly brought smiles to readers’ faces. You can view that collection here, along with his original illustration of his 28’ x 40’ “Greatest Raiders of All Time” mural that's inside Allegiant Stadium. His work—canvas, acrylic, and metal prints—is available for purchase. The gallery is open from 10am-3pm Monday-Saturday and by appointment.
I got “Portnoyed.” (Image: Vegas 411)
Meanwhile, Neal and his wife Dorothy recently attended my "People Need People” mixer. In 60 seconds flat, he drew a spot-on portrait of me and a few days later, emailed me a proper caricature of myself. Honored and thrilled to be "Portnoyed," as the saying goes, I went to the gallery to pick up the illustration and I'm having it framed pronto.
