FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 1 - May 1, 2004
Opening reception: April 1, 2004 from 6-8pm


STUART HAWKINS
"Appearing In: 2"


LFL Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of new photographs and videos by New York and Nepal-based artist Stuart Hawkins. Stuart Hawkins' exhibition, comprised of photographs and videos, is a reflection of Western pop culture filtered through the eyes and actions of Nepali citizens.

"Appearing In: 2" includes The Model Project, a series of photographs depicting the artist's friends and acquaintances posing as fashion models. In Making the Video, a 5-minute DVD loop, Hawkins displays the making of a Nepali hip-hop video on one monitor, while the actual, televised music video airs on the second monitor. The Hero is a 22-minute DVD re-make of the film American Beauty, featuring an entirely Nepali cast with the exception of the cheerleader (the narrator of the film's object of desire), who is played by Hawkins herself.

In all three works, Hawkins compels the viewers to consider themselves in the visual dialogue of consumer culture and question who the "other" is. Her work engages a world of differences increasingly veiled by superficial similarities.

Stuart Hawkins was born in 1969 in Norfolk, VA, and lives and works in New York, NY and Nepal. She has had solo shows at Peres Projects, San Francisco, and Priska Juschka Fine Art, Brooklyn. Hawkins has been featured in Flash Art, Artforum online, and The New York Times. This is her first exhibition at LFL Gallery.