Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Wednesday 5 July 2017
Museum exhibits lowrider cars, the artwork they’ve inspired

By JOHN ROGERS heavens as it’s driven by a
Associated Press friendly dog, a character
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Low- Lujan featured frequently
rider cars these days are in his work.
far more than tricked-out The actual car, a 1950
automobiles with gravity- Chevy coupe that Lujan
challenged rear suspen- named “Our Family Car”
sions and ear-rattling ex- because it really was, is
haust systems that seem to also on display. Seeing
cry out for police to ticket it up close allows a view
the drivers. of its contrasting scenes
In their finest format, they of Aztec-style paintings
have morphed into muse- throughout and the mul-
um-quality works of art, ap- ticolored flames embel-
pearing in shows around lishing its sides. The result
the world from Paris’ Lou- makes the car appear as
vre to Washington’s Smith- a hybrid lowrider-hot rod,
sonian. something Sandoval says
But while museumgoers the artist was going for.
have learned to appreci- The “Gypsy Rose” is also
ate these creatures that paid tribute to, by mixed-
sprang from the garages In this Thursday, June 29, 2017, photo, “El Rey,” a customized 1963 Chevrolet Impala by Albert media artist Justin Favela’s
de Alba, Sr., is displayed during an exhibition titled “The High Art of Riding Low” at the Petersen
of American teenagers in Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. colorful, life-sized “piñata”
the years after World War Associated Press replica constructed from
II, lowrider historian Denise paper and suspended
Sandoval says the eye- from the ceiling.
popping, airbrushed paint- taillight. Other paintings, drawings,
ings, plush interiors and Other cars in the L.A. ex- photographs and seri-
chrome-plated wheels hibit radiate a rainbow of graphs show lowrider street
and engines that have colors, including some with scenes from around the
come to define them have murals of beautiful women, U.S. Southwest, illustrating
quietly fomented some- landscapes and skeletons what Sandoval has long
thing more — a new genre representing Dia de Muer- maintained: that while
of contemporary art. tos, the Latino holiday hon- places from Espanola,
It’s a genre Sandoval oring loved ones who have New Mexico, to East Los
hopes to expose to a wider died. Angeles have claimed to
audience through “The But placed right alongside be the birthplace of low-
High Art of Riding Low,” a these V-8-powered trea- riding, it appears to have
wide-ranging exhibition of sures are dozens of paint- sprung up spontaneously
lowrider-inspired fine art ings and other museum across the Southwest dur-
including paintings, sculp- works created by such ing the post-war years.
tures, serigraphs, photo- prominent gallery artists as In this Thursday, June 29, 2017, photo, “Gypsy Rose Pinata” by Caught up in the second-
graphs, drawings and, of Gilbert “Magu” Lujan and Justin Favela is displayed during an exhibition titled “The High generation of that lowrid-
course, automobiles cre- Frank Romero, who form Art of Riding Low” at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los ing culture was de Alba,
ated by the world’s most half of the contemporary Angeles. Associated Press son of a lowrider who
accomplished Chicano art world’s Los Four, the first learned his airbrush paint-
artists. Chicano artists group to ing skills from his father
The show, which opened have a showing at a major ing the hall itself to see the ute to Lujan as it shows the and applied them to the
Monday and runs until next institution, the Los Angeles other works. late artist’s own lowrider 1963 Chevrolet Impala he
June, is the third lowrider County Museum of Art, in “That car is like the ultimate car ascending toward the named El Rey.q
exhibition that Sandoval, a 1974. zero of lowriding. You know
Chicano studies professor “Basically we’re focused what I mean? It all starts
at California State Universi- on looking at the lowrider with ‘Gypsy Rose,’” says
ty, Northridge, has curated car as both artistic inspira- lowrider and artist Albert
at Los Angeles’ Petersen tion and art object,” says de Alba Sr., whose El Rey,
Automotive Museum since Sandoval, explaining how three-time winner of Low-
2000. this show differs from earlier rider Car of the Year, is also
Like previous shows, it fea- ones. “We’re taking artists on display.
tures its share of some of from the museum gallery Inside the gallery, it all
the finest lowrider cars cre- world and merging them continues with a variety of
ated, among them Jesse with lowrider artists. So stunning works in various
Valadez’s “Gypsy Rose,” we’re bringing these two media.
which was encased in worlds together.” There is Lujan’s acclaimed
glass for display on Wash- It’s an effort perhaps best “Journey to Aztlan” paint-
ington’s National Mall ear- exemplified by the contrast ing showing a lowrider
lier this year when it was in- found upon first coming cruising across California’s
ducted into the U.S. Historic face-to-face with the late desert toward the mythical
Vehicle Register. The long, Valadez’s stunningly col- land of the Aztec people. In this Thursday, June 29, 2017, photo, “El Muertorider,” a cus-
sleek Chevrolet is bathed orful, intricately detailed Nearby is another large tomized 1968 Chevrolet Impala by Artemio Rodriguez and John
in bright pink and covered “Gypsy Rose,” parked just acrylic-on-canvas work, Jota Leanos, is displayed during an exhibition titled “The High
Art of Riding Low” at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los
with intricately painted ros- outside the gallery hall’s this one by Jaime “Germs” Angeles
es running from front tire to entrance, and then enter- Zacarias and paying trib- Associated Press