A lecture by Dave Hickey Art critic and curator of the exhibition Las Vegas Diaspora: The Emergence of Contemporary Art from the Neon Homeland Friday, October 19, 2007 at 7:00 pm


$7 General Public, $5 LVAM Members


Seating is very limited; please RSVP to 360-8000


The galleries will remain open until the start of the lecture at 7 pm.


The Las Vegas Art Museum is pleased to present Dave Hickey's lecture on aspects of the exhibition Las Vegas Diaspora: The Emergence of Contemporary Art from the Neon Homeland, on view until December 30.


Dave Hickey, recently named a 2001-2006 MacArthur Fellow (commonly referred to as the Genius Award), was the curator for SITE Santa Fe's Fourth International Biennial, Beau Monde: Toward a Redeemed Cosmopolitanism. Hickey received a B.A. (1961) from Texas Christian University and an M.A. (1963) from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a freelance writer, curator, and lecturer who has been affiliated with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas since 1992. He is the author of many museum exhibition catalog essays on a variety of artists' work including John Baldessari for the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, Vija Celmins for the Philadelphia Institute of Contemporary Art, and Josiah McElheny for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. His critical essays on art have been collected in two volumes: The Invisible Dragon: Four Essays on Beauty (1993) and Air Guitar: Essays in Art and Democracy (1997).Hickey is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant (1969) and the College Art Association's Frank Jewett Mather Award for Distinction in Art or Architectural Criticism (1993).


Las Vegas Diaspora features artists who have been recognized for artistic achievement after earning degrees in studio art at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). The exhibition showcases a selection of artworks by 26 artists who work in a variety of media. All of the featured artists studied with Hickey between 1990 and 2001, when Hickey taught art theory and criticism in the Department of Art at UNLV. Hickey now serves in the English Department at UNLV as Schaeffer Professor of Modern Letters.


The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog published by The Las Vegas Art Museum and BrightCity Books. The fully illustrated catalog features an essay by Dave Hickey, and individual artist entries.


The exhibition Las Vegas Diaspora: The Emergence of Contemporary Art from the Neon Homeland is made possible by LVAM's Joyce Mack Exhibitions Fund and James and Michelle Zeiter Exhibitions Fund. Patron support is provided by Wally Goodman and Patrick Duffy, Robin and Danny Greenspun, Thomas and Bonnie Lawyer, Dana and Greg Lee - Eureka Casinos, Joyce Mack, Andy Katz Manpower of Southern Nevada, Inc., Blanche and Phil Meisel, Jim and Beverly Rogers, and Jim and Michelle Zeiter.


The Las Vegas Art Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, and closed Mondays. General admission is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors 55 years and older, and $3 for students 13 years and older; entry free for children 12 and younger when accompanied by an adult, and for LVAM Members. Docent tours are available at 2 p.m. weekends, and at other times with advance arrangement. For more information on exhibitions, membership details, facility rentals and education programs, call (702) 360-8000, or visit www.lasvegasartmuseum.org.