From the Exhibition Catalogue:

Simón Vega’s most recent work Shanty Mall, is an architectural maquette of a shopping mall constructed from post consumer waste products littered with corporate logos. With Shanty Mall, Vega superimposes the barest necessity of materials available that are used to build the shantytowns of El Salvador, as well as in other parts of the world, within the façade of consumer idealism. Moreover, through his use of materials and imagery, Vega indicates both the codependence and disparity between Third World and First World Nations, especially in relation to the spread of hyper-consumer culture into Central America. Salvadorian by birth and currently attending graduate school at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain, Vega’s recent work directly addresses the spread of brand identity and globalization; the social, political, and economic impact of this cultural transformation within Central America; as well as the increasing numbers of people migrating to the United States from Central America in search of the “American Dream”.