We had to do some digging to find the answer to this query, first posed by a local TV reporter (see image below) but it turns out it's not evidence of an alien landing; instead, it's an al fresco public art installation by Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone titled "Seven Magic Mountains."
Comprising seven colossal towers or "totems," each standing 30 to 35 feet high, the piece has been a long time in the making and was created using dayglo-painted boulders that themselves were fabricated in conjunction with a local paving company using stones from local quarries. It's a collaboration between the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno and the Art Production Fund -- a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to "commissioning and producing ambitious public art projects, reaching new audiences and expanding awareness through contemporary art." The two organizations were behind the Kickstarter campaign to fund the piece, which set out to raise $50,000 but actually exceeded that amount by $3,000, thanks to just 219 backers.
As to the "why" that some readers may be wondering, at its most-basic level the piece is designed to "bring color to the desert landscape near Las Vegas." Its more grandiose raison d'être is to "elicit continuities and solidarities between human and nature, artificial and natural, then and now," according to the artist, and to "offer a contemporary critique of the simulacra of destinations like Las Vegas" and a "wallop of faux nature aggressively inserting itself into the landscape and forcing discussions about reality in the 21st century," according to Las Vegas Weekly's 2015 coverage of the then yet-to-be-realized project.
Also reflecting the transience of Las Vegas culture, the piece -- which is there right now, but doesn't officially "open" to the public until May 11, will be in situ for just two years, so catch it while you can, should you feel so inclined -- and it's hard to miss! (As aside, we note a certain irony regarding the neon color palette, which is in direct contravention of the guiding principles behind a much larger, simultaneous art program along the I-15 and other Nevada highways, currently being implemented by the Nevada Dept. of Transportation, as part of "Project Neon." But that's another topic for another day...)
