08.04.2015

Einar and Jamex de la Torre: Hyperkulturemia

EINAR AND JAMEX DE LA TORRE: HYPERKULTUREMIA

exhibition: august 6 - 30, 2015  /  opening reception: thursday, august 6, 5 - 8pm  

As the show title (inspired by a likely fictitious syndrome) suggests, this next exhibition at Traver by the outrageous sibling duo should be accompanied with the warning: Caution, artwork may cause rapid heartbeat, fainting, confusion, and hallucinations!

Employing hot sculpted glass, resin, lenticular lenses and found objects, the intensely imaginative work by the de la Torre's conjoins the humorous and the horrific with religious iconography and themes from pop culture. Study these richly layered mixed-media sculptures and you will find objects ranging from milagros to dominoes, plastic baby dolls from the local dollar store to chunks of rubber from discarded car tires, photos of religious icons to gum wrappers. No pairing is off limits for this team, yet miraculously, within this jumble of narratives and materials, a harmonious synchronicity triumphs. Dig deeper into the narratives and you'll discover work that embodies a frenetic globalized perspective, mixing a unique blend of cultural influences and political positioning, illustrating the delicate balance between modernist and traditionalist values.

The de la Torre's have taught and exhibited internationally in France, Japan, Canada, Germany, Venezuela, and Brazil, as well as in their home countries, the US and Mexico.  Their work is in the collection of the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington; The National Hispanic Center Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico; Arkansas Arts Center Museum, Little Rock; Arizona State University Art Museum; San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art; Kanazu Museum, Japan; The Fisher Gallery Museum USC, California; Tucson Museum of Art, Arizona; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California; and The Mexican Fine Art Center Museum in Chicago. in 2014 they were awarded the prestigious United States Fellowship and in 2007 received a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation award.

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