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Ginger & Fred by Einar and Jamex       De La Torre
Ginger & Fred

Los Tesículos de Dios (The testicles of God) by Einar and Jamex       De La Torre
Los Tesículos de Dios

Orgullo (Pride) by Einar and Jamex       De La Torre
Orgullo

Euro Virus by Einar and Jamex       De La Torre
Euro Virus


Euro Virus by Einar and Jamex       De La Torre
Museo de las Artes, Universidad de Guadalajara,
Jan 31, 2002 - Mar 31, 2002
Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

Aesthetic Dissolution? The unique case of the çWe are Oneç duo, where the sum of two thinking brains is greater than one bleeding heart
by Felipe Ehrenberg

The De La Torre Brothers, as was the French chess player in his time, are two superb heterodox challengers. Be patient with me, your Honorç the accused are not bastardizing anything, least of all the Arts. Their work is strong and brave (look, working with glass is no easy task). Their indubitable elegance raises it far above the frivolity that certain museum directors and their respective curators insist on defending. Without even trying, in each of their works Einar and Jamex seriously question what is stylish in the palatial living rooms of our major cities (that, as we well know, dance to the tune played in the Capital City). The high priests officiating in them can go fly a kite. "They are crude, vulgar, they areç (see how they wrinkle up their little noses)ç in bad taste!" Each in his own world and both in the same universe, our two friends have taken a extremis (as Espinoza de los Monteros would say) the creative freedom rediscovered by Marcel Duchamp, the great iconoclast, indeed, the first to wander off the beaten path. And nearby roads. Not only this, both who are one have nurtured their libertarian aesthetic spirit with the strength and daring of our contemporary urban street merchant artisans whose ingenious everyday creations are made for passers-by. Let us recall that the intent of art, of all art, has always been to move others, to dialogue with contemporaries, to offer objects capable of leading us, including those who are less knowledgeable, to contemplation and meditation and from there to the next day. This assertion must be substantiated. The De La Torre brothers are perfectly aware of what other high caliber artists are producing in Mexico, in the United States and elsewhere in the world. Don’t take my word for it, members of the jury, but these two are brothers who have been working, excuse me, creating and producing for a long, long time have a vast culture. Clues to their enormous erudition are found in the titles of their exhibitions: The Mexican Problem, Anachronism, Neo-relics, Folklore Acid, Marlboro Country! Also study the titles of each and everyone of their works carefully. Do not doubt for a second that both know what arte naçf, neo-dada, primitivism, multiculturalism, and of course, postmodernism are. Einar as well as Jamex move with unique skill in the no man’s land between popular cultural and mass art. Each knows perfectly well, furthermore, what is in play when concepts such as pluralism and appropriation are confronted with what we call mainstream. (I trust that at least some of the respectful members of the jury recognize these terms.) The unison between these two creators comes from constant dialogue. Moving back and forth from one side of the porous border to the other brings us closer to our "Northern cousins"; living at the same time in Ensenada and San Diego, you tell me if Jamex and Einar doesn’t know down to the last square inch the mutations that the concept of regionalism has suffered over the past four decades! Look at the work exhibited here. See how much precision these four eyes and two brains have bet on glocal, a strange word that depicts in a short breath the globalized consequences of local events. If among the artists who inhabit the porous border territory there is someone who knows how to walk the tightrope between the Los Angeles Look, Chicanoism and, of course, kitsch, it is the "We Are One" Duo of the De La Torre brothers. There you have it, your Honor, members of the jury, ladies and gentlemen, the nitty-gritty of the matter. Let’s be careful when categorizing the works of these two artists in any of the above isms. Whoever would challenge them would ipso facto take their place in the defendant’s seat charged with first degree ignorance, retroçchauvinism, and if not careful, with discrimination and racism. If found guilty, he or she could be sentenced to twelve years of hard labor in our bureaucracy. The history of art can forget momentarily but never forgives. Those who propose Jamex on the one hand and Einar on the other propose another path (does this phrase sound familiar?), another direction to follow. Neither of them seek approval of the Berlin or Miami market. Their motivation is to help us understand who we are.



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