Koplin Del Rio Gallery is pleased to present QUEMANDO LAS NAVES by Jamex and Einar De La Torre. An opening reception will be held Saturday, July 18th from 5-7 PM. The works will be on view through August 29, 2015.
Alluding to the idea of risking it all for one particular cause, the Spanish expression QUEMANDO LAS NAVES works as a perfect metaphor for the experience of migrants around the world. Historically attributed to the military strategies of either Alexander the Great or the Spanish conquistador, Hernán Cortés, the act of ‘burning the ships’—as it would be literally translated into English—refers to the confident gesture of initially eliminating the possibility of going back to one’s place of origin—just as many migrants do—so as to focus on one and only goal: that of making it in foreign lands. In the mind of these heroic characters, then, the right to return home is conditioned by their victory abroad. Because, as history shows, they either go back on board the enemy’s boats— like the Macedonian leader—or they do it bringing back the gold— as Cortés did.
Honoring the lives of migrants who have ‘burned their ships’, forthis show, the De La Torre Brothers have created a series of works that explore the aesthetics inherent to a culture that traces its origins to Mexico while existing in the imaginary of people living in the U.S. Juxtaposing popular and religious icons, combining elements from the arts’ and the arts and crafts’ worlds, including elements from both sides of the U.S./Mexico border, and going back and forth from past to present times, each sculpture, wall piece or installation is an ode to hybridity. Highly subversive in terms of content yet humorous and colorful regarding the form, QUEMANDO LAS NAVES is a complex and multi‐layered show that raises the question about the futility of physical and epistemic boundaries.
— Adriana Martínez Noriega: curator/art historian
Einar and Jamex De La Torre were born in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1960 and 1963, respectively. Einar and Jamex both studied at California State University at Long Beach and taught at the prestigious Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington. The Brothers’ works are in numerous public and private collections and have been exhibited around the world at venues including The Museum of Glass: International Center for Contemporary Art in Tacoma, WA, California State University In Fullerton, Los Angeles, the Carnegie Art Museum in Oxnard, CA, the Los Angeles Museum of Art, The Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, The Chrysler Museum of Art, The Tuscon Museum of Art, Glazenhuis – Glass Museum, Lommel, Belgium and The National Glass Centre in Sunderland, United Kingdom. This is the De La Torre Brothers’ fourth solo show at the gallery.
Koplin Del Rio Gallery | 6031 Washington Blvd | Culver City, CA 90232
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