In The Backspace

N/ICE

Troy Gua

January 04 – 28, 2012
Reception / Thursday, January 05, 6–8pm

Teddy Bears are symbols of comfort and warmth.
Duct tape is used for creating protective barriers.
These bears are metaphors for the social bipolarity of the so-called 'Seattle Freeze'.

By all outward appearances and actions, Seattlites seem a perfectly warm and open folk. We smile, hold the door for you, casually agree to get together for lunch. Try to get closer, however, and our walls become apparent. Following through with those plans for lunch becomes laughable. Breaking through the surface to forge a real friendship is a difficult task. Why is that? There are many theories and I don?t claim to have any answers. I simply contend that Seattlites are a lot like these ‘Bipolar Bears’: we take on the shape of snuggly, earnest warmth, and deep down, we really are those warm and open folk, if you can manage to break through the chilly protective barrier.