Collidoscope - de la Torre Brothers

Collidoscope: de la Torre Brothers Retro-Perspective

Text by Selene Preciado, Betti-Sue Hertz, Josh T Franco, Montserrat Sánchez Soler

This zestful publication showcases the Mexican de la Torre brothers’—Einar (born 1963) and Jamex (born 1960)—particular vision of the Latino experience and American culture. Their prismatic work merges religious iconography and German Expressionism with Mexican vernacular arts and pre-Columbian art.

Wielding a combination of humor and critical earnestness, the brothers continuously explore this vision through their mixed media works - many including blown glass elements - in a chameleonic-kaleidoscopic process that culminates in a palimpsest of images and meanings.

Book cover features a 3-dimensional lenticular inset, evoking the brothers' large-scale lenticular artworks.

Published in conjunction with a traveling exhibition that originated at The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art and Culture of the Riverside Art Museum, Collidoscope advances the scholarship concerning Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x artists in an effort to challenge the art historical record, asserting that “Chicano art is American art.”

Riverside Art Museum, 2024, hardcover, 10.2 x 11.6 in, 176 pages.