Lyons Wier Gallery
175 Seventh Avenue, at 20th Street, 212-242-6220
Chelsea
September 8 - October 8, 2005
Reception: Thursday, September 8, 6 - 8 PM
Web Site
Andy Diaz Hope’s first solo New York show, there goes the neighborhood, is a two-part installation that synthesizes the artist’s pervading interest in how we see ourselves and our neighbors, as well as his frustration over the tempering of critical thought in America. One, encapsulated in the Morning After Portraits, raises questions about our self-image and pharmacological use – be it an exercise in vanity or a need for temporary physical relief. The other, Everybody is Somebody’s Terrorist, focuses on our stereotypes of terrorists, raising questions about our definitions of terrorism at a time when surveillance technologies mask the fact that we do not know who we’re looking for. One might say that the installation is a contrast in efforts to see through our delusions and illusions: delusions of youth and celebrity, and illusions of paranoia and fear.