Exhibition: June 18, 2022–January 22, 2023
The exhibition is a thematic retrospective on the artistic and exploratory trajectory of Einar and Jamex de la Torre, the two siblings that comprise this artistic duo known as The de la Torre Brothers. Einar and Jamex were born in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 1963 and 1960, respectively, but they have navigated life on both sides of the border since they were very young. Due to their bi-national and bi-cultural background, their work has been interpreted through the lenses of border art and Chicano art for the past couple of decades. The brothers use an array of materials and techniques that range from the mastering of glass blowing to the more recent practice of lenticular printing, signaling to an appreciation of traditional crafts as well as to an interest in technology and popular mass-produced objects.
Encompassing almost three decades of work, the exhibition also highlights the present and future of the brothers’ production. Many elements of the exhibition, including the title and curatorial framework, try to echo the creative process of the artists, serving as an allegory of their intellectual pursuits, their technical use of materials and media, and their own use of wordplay and poetic riddles in their work titles.
Collidoscope: de la Torre Brothers Retro-Perspective will be the inaugural temporary exhibition at The Cheech, the new center housing the contemporary Chicana/o Art collection gifted by Cheech Marin in Riverside, California. The selection of the de la Torre brothers as the first artists to be featured is relevant since they have a particular vision of the Latino experience and American culture. It is explored in their work through a combination of humor and critical earnestness, borrowing elements from Mexican culture (pre-Columbian, historical, popular, and pop) and other places, in a sort of chameleonic-kaleidoscopic process that explodes into a myriad of layered images and meanings.
Exhibition-Related Programming
Gallery walkthrough and discussion of Collidoscope with the artists, Einar and Jamex de la Torre
¡DESCUBRA! AT THE CHEECH Collidoscope: A Retro-Perspective Closing Celebration
This exhibition was developed in partnership between The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum and the National Museum of the American Latino.
This exhibition received federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center.
Additional support provided by: California Humanities, Assemblymember Jose Medina, and Unidos.
Image: Einar & Jamex de la Torre, Oxymodern, 2002
