Jacqueline Ehlis

Las Vegas Diaspora: The Emergence of Contemporary Art from the Neon Homeland
Las Vegas Art Museum, Las Vegas, Nevada, Curator: Dave Hickey, September – December 2007  
Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach CA March - June 2008                                                       

“Las Vegas Diaspora: The Emergence of Contemporary Art from the Neon Homeland,” fresh from its premier last year at the Las Vegas Art Museum, features the work of 26 artists who attended the graduate program at the University of Las Vegas between 1990 and 2001 under the tutelage of Dave Hickey, who is also the curator of this show and the partner of Las Vegas Art Museum director Libby Lumpkin. Seeking to testify, by example, to the living legacy of this influential art world couple, it must therefore contradict the truism, mostly touted by academics that art cannot be taught, while simultaneously reaffirming art’s equally preposterous claim to personal freedom and success.

Participating artists include: Rev. Ethan Acres (Muscle Shoals, AL); Robert Acuna (Los Angeles); Philip Argent (Santa Barbara); Aaron Baker (Chicago); Tim Bavington (Las Vegas); Thomas Burke (New York); Jane Callister (Santa Barbara); Brad Corman (Redlands, CA); Jacqueline Ehlis (Portland); Curtis Fairman (Las Vegas); Gajin Fujita (Los Angeles); Sush Machida Gaikotsu (Las Vegas); James Gobel (San Francisco); Sherin Guirguis (Los Angeles); Jack Hallberg (Las Vegas); James Hough (Las Vegas); Shawn Hummel (Las Vegas); Carrie Jenkins (Los Angeles); Angela Kallus (Las Vegas); Wayne Littlejohn (Las Vegas); Victoria Reynolds (Los Angeles); David Ryan (Las Vegas); Jason Tomme (New York); Sean Slattery (Las Vegas); Yek (Singapore and Las Vegas); and Almond Zigmund (New York).