“Un sueño de ti” is the title of the curatorial text written by English critic Tom Morton for the exhibition Diva’s Life (2007) featuring work by Colombian artist Juan Pablo Echeverri. The show was held at Site Gallery in the city of Sheffield, England. The text was later published in the tenth volume of Programa Enfoques (2005−2008), organized by the art collection of Union des Banques Suisses (UBS) with the participation of Colombia art consulting firm Paralelo 10 and curator Jaime Cerón (b.1967). Programa Enfoques consists of twelve publications that compile critical texts and images of works by seventeen contemporary Colombian artists, among them Milena Bonilla and Ana María Millán. On the basis of the work Photo Booth Self-Portraits produced by North American artist Andy Warhol in 1963, Morton offers a concise reflection on a number of Echeverri’s works, including Miss Foto Japón [Miss Photo Japan] (2000−2010), which consists of a series of ID-format photographs of the artist taken on a daily basis starting in 2000. Morton describes works like Ojo de loca, no se equivoca [Gaydar] (2006) and miaMerican life (2000) as a compulsive “expansion of the self” that—by means of constant personal mutation, the rereading of icons, and the layering of culturally influential images—questions self-identity, gender, and social stereotypes.

The text “Un sueño de ti” (2007) is important insofar as it attests to the positive reception that work by Juan Pablo Echeverri (b. 1978) enjoyed on the international art scene. His work was considered an obsessive portrait of the experience of contemporary man constructing an identity as well as an effective—and amusing—questioning of stereotypes produced by the homogenization of modernity. Particularly interesting is Norton’s reading of Echeverri’s Miss foto Japón (2000) as a contemporary rendition of the work of Andy Warhol (1928–1987) insofar as, on the basis of different formal and conceptual premises, Echeverri makes obsessive use of his own image to construct a self that contains many different selves.

In this text, Morton describes Echeverri’s video production in the exhibition as a sort of homemade MTV, a combination of self-affirmation and self-pity in melodramatic tone. This assessment evidences the influence of the mass media and music on Echeverri’s work, which in turn, uses irony and humor to attest to the common desire to play a leading role in the contemporary world. Echeverri’s work must be understood in relation to a generation of Colombian artists from the last decade explicitly concerned with gender issues. The influence of queer theory has indisputably played a role in generating new curatorial spaces like the exhibition Yo no soy esa (2006), spaces that have helped Colombian artists who work on gender issues—among them Fernando Arias (b. 1962) (see doc. no. 1131272) and Santiago Monge (b. 1974)—gain recognition. The origin of this openness to diversity, though, lies in the seventies with works by artists such as Luis Caballero Holguín (1943–1995) and Miguel Ángel Rojas (b. 1946), who were among the first to openly address homosexuality in their production.

Tom Morton (b. 1977) is an English curator and critic. He was the curator of Cubitt in London from 2006–2007. His texts have been featured in international publications such as Tank, Blueprint, Arena and Tate. He is currently the editor of the art magazine Frieze. He lives and works in London.

Juan Pablo Echeverri is a visual artist with a degree from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá. In 2006, he was awarded the Colombia-England artists’ residency sponsored by the Colombian Ministry of Culture’s Programa Nacional de estímulo (2006).