The Flaunting of Youth
MIAMI, FL—Mindy Solomon Gallery presents The Flaunting of Youth by Einar and Jamex de la Torre on view November 28th, 2016 through January 14th, 2017 at the gallery: 8397 NE 2nd Avenue, Miami, in Little River. An opening reception with the artists will take place Monday, November 28th, from 6–9pm.
The opening reception party features —a unique boutique mezcal created by Mexican American actor and famed Chicano art collector Cheech Marin. The Tres Papalote® label showcases an image of a glass sculpture skillfully crafted by artists Einar and Jamex de la Torre. The figurine on the bottle is inspired by the de la Torres’ colorful fun-loving work in Cheech’s own art collection.
Capitalizing on their always prescient, tongue-in-cheek perspective on Colonial History, the de la Torres explore a juxtaposition of consumerist gluttony and the Sunshine State population’s obsession with eternal youth and vitality. Utilizing the medium of lenticular technology, Einar and Jamex de la Torre create vibrant images of raw meat, celebrity personas, and historical artifacts to articulate a dizzying array of fantastical images that transition between varying states of reality.
Einar de la Torre states:
“It always surprises us when somebody dies in the US, there are no reminders of death—even the cemeteries look like golf courses and parks. Nowhere else do you see a culture so obsessed with youth. We like to say that America is a young country; America is not so young anymore. Nowadays, it is acting more like a perpetually juvenile middle-ager— immature adults are never a pretty sight, the best example of this is in our current election.
“The fabled Fountain of Youth reflects our national disdain for aging. It is more than a little ironic that Ponce de Leon’s fountain should be situated in Florida, a state that has more than its share of retirees. We believe it is high time we started listening to the wisdom of elders, and started acting our age. Our recent lenticular body of work reflects this, and the parallel topic ‘Sloth’ that is the theme for our next museum exhibit in Aarhus, Denmark (designated cultural capital for the European Union 2017, opening in February).”
Choosing to focus on lenticulars exclusively for this exhibition will be a departure from previous shows, as the brothers have always utilized hot glass as one of their primary media. Expanding their artistic reach beyond the traditional craft realm, they see themselves as representative of the contemporary Latin American artistic vanguard. The de la Torre brothers will be the featured inaugural exhibition at the new Smithsonian Latino Center in Washington, DC in 2018. They have received national and international acclaim and professional recognition, including a USA Artist award, Louise Comfort Tiffany Foundation grant, and a Joan Mitchell award.
About Einar and Jamex de la Torre
Brothers Einar and Jamex de la Torre were born in Guadalajara, Mexico. Jamex in 1960, Einar in 1963. They moved suddenly with the family to Southern California in 1972, going from an all-boys Catholic school to public schools in the beach town of Dana Point. They are presently living and working on both sides of the border with studios in Ensenada, Mexico and San Diego, California. Jamex started flame-working glass in 1977, attended California State University at Long Beach, and received a BFA in Sculpture in 1983. Einar started work with glass in 1980, while also attending California State University at Long Beach. In the 1980s, they ran a flame-worked glass figure business while also developing their assemblage style of work. In the early 90s, they began working collaboratively as studio artists; later in the decade, they began work in installation art with participations in Biennales such as inSITE and Mercosul (Brazil). In the year 2000, the brothers began their work in public art; they now have six major projects completed. They have exhibited their work internationally, participating in exhibits in France, Japan, Canada, Germany, Venezuela, and Brazil, as well as 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. They have taught workshops at institutions such as Pilchuck School of Glass, Penland School of Crafts, Ezra School of Glass in Japan, Build-Work Academy in Bavaria, Jam Factory in Adelaide, Australia, and Northlands Creative Glass Centre in Scotland. Their work is included in the private collections of Cheech Marin, Elton John, Terry McMilan, Sandra Cisneros, and Quincy Troupe among others.
