December 2007                                                                          FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Einar and Jamex de la Torre: New Colonies in the New World
Exhibition Dates: January 12 – February 23, 2008
Reception for the Artists: Saturday, January 12, 2008, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Friday: 10:00 am – 5:30 pm; Saturday: 11:00 am – 5:30 pm
Public Contact: 310-836-9055

Koplin Del Rio is pleased to present an exhibition of new blown glass and mixed media works by Einar and Jamex de la Torre.

The multiplicity of voices in the de la Torre brother’s work begins with their Mexican background, a combination of the Native Mexican, Spanish and Aztec ancestry, resulting in a rich Mestizo* hybrid. The artists also draw upon their time spent in the United States after immigrating as adolescents. This diverse upbringing lets them draw from multiple sources of inspiration as Mexican, American, and as literal border artists, living and working in San Diego, CA.

The show titled, New Colonies in the New World, is a reference to new methods of colonizing through technology and information, such as Industrial China’s conquest of the ‘dollar stores’ throughout the world or the virtual colonies that develop and thrive within the subculture of the World Wide Web. The de la Torre’s consume and locally reinterpret this information and material culture manufactured in far away places.

Each sculpture is an explosive synthesis of the different cultural influences, mythologies and relics of ancient Latin America, as well as, the artifacts of contemporary consumer cultures and religions. This collaborative body of work consists of both freestanding pedestal and wall mounted pieces comprised of masterful blown glass elements, depicting various Mayan, Aztec and religious iconography, juxtaposed with the historic icons are scores of trinkets and objects scoured from dollar stores around the world.
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 Brother’s 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.

* "Spanish term" that was used in the Spanish Empire to designate people of mixed European
(Spanish) and Amerindian ancestry living in the region of Latin America.”