Object Record
Images
Metadata
Artist |
de la Torre, Einar |
Title |
Crossing the Desert |
Artist 2 |
de la Torre, Jamex |
Date |
2005 |
Medium |
blown and cast glass, mixed media |
Culture |
Mexican |
Object ID |
2011.13.1 |
Collection |
Contemporary Latin American Art |
Object Name |
Sculpture |
Credit line |
Virginia Johnson Fund |
Didactic Information |
Brothers Einar and Jamex de la Torre create lively-colored glass sculptures steeped in the European tradition of Italian glassblowing mixed with the utilitarian glassware of Mexico-beauty and functionality co-mingling. Their humorous satirical works address issues about cultural plurality, identity politics, popular culture, religion, and geopolitics. Born in Guadalajara, the de la Torre brothers now live and work on both sides of the border with studios in San Diego, California, and Ensenada, Mexico. Crossing the Desert confronts the viewer with a current concern-immigration. In this sculpture, a grimacing dark-skinned man with a blue bandana is crucified on a saguaro cactus. This confrontational work indicates that the Mexican immigrant is the sacrificial figure for our fears and misunderstanding about the immigrant experience in general and Mexicans in particular. (Feb 2017) Christianity's own image of human sacrifice—is given a borderlands spin. "Crossing the Desert," a pedestal piece in glass and mixed media, memorializes the deaths of migrants in Southern Arizona. |