Fire in the Taco Bell

Pilar Tompkins

The ebb and flow of culture and commerce through the free trade agreement of North America often times exists without a means of self examination. The social and political intricacies inherent in this exchange are open to interpretation based upon vantage point.
The three Mexican artists in this exhibition invite the viewer to reconsider nationalism through our neighbor's lens by questioning mainstream American orthodoxy. These works prove how a nation creates and propagates the existence of its own enemies, and how as a society we choose to interpret our role as aggressor and victor through moral maxims. If misperception lies at the heart of conflict, then why is propaganda such a convenient truth?

Pilar Tompkins

Los Angeles, California, 2006