Einar and Jamex de la Torre

Hedonic Treadmill, 2022
1162 Prospect Street

15' 6" x 20' 6"
Laurence and Cindy Bloch – Wall Sponsors

Einar and Jamex de La Torre’s mural, Hedonic Treadmill, is an ecstatic amalgamation of imagery seeking to playfully and poignantly deconstruct the current state of the American mythos. The fantastical vehicle at the center is a baroque hybrid of sorts combining the highly ornamental Car d’Or carriage, a relic of Belgium antiquity, with an embellished custom yellow Cadillac. The artists refer to this newly imagined machine as a modified Tesla turned ‘Testi’, noted by the humorously augmented logo on the car's hood. A figure in a blond wig, resembling Elon Musk, is riding atop the vehicle waving to the onlookers surrounding the procession. Rich with multi-layered symbolic commentary, the brothers are interested in examining the concept of the hedonic treadmill, a term coined by Philip Brickman and Donald T. Campbell as a metaphor for the human tendency to relentlessly pursue one pleasure after another. The mural image uses the backdrop of La Jolla as a set to grapple with complicated issues surrounding how wealthy enclaves restrict accessibility in both subtle and overt ways. The iconic seals of La Jolla, scattered throughout the promenade, are shown pupating into the less threatening monarch butterflies some would rather see.  The butterfly's bodies have been replaced by pink statuettes of proverbial “smiling boys”, statuettes from pre-Colombian Veracruz, while a glowing Garibaldi fish stands in as the sun behind them. All the while, pleasantly amused spectators are depicted in the background riding a moving walkway and reviewing the spectacle from a safe distance. Both self-aware and self-referential, the mural ties together strategically selected imagery from both sides of the California/Mexico border to further enhance this aesthetically complex narrative.

Collaborating since the 1990s, brothers Einar and Jamex de La Torre have developed a maximalist signature style based on a wide-ranging art practice using elements of mixed media, sculpture, installation, and lenticular printing. Einar and Jamex were born in 1963 and 1960, respectively, in Guadalajara, Mexico, moving to southern California in 1972. They both attended California State University at Long Beach. Jamex received a BFA in Sculpture in 1983 while Einar decided against the utility of an art degree. Inspired by the Baroque aesthetic, their work draws from traditional Mexican folk art, pop culture, religious imagery, and iconography to create a complex commentary on contradicting bicultural identities, contemporary class issues, and the art world itself.

The de La Torre brothers’ work has been widely exhibited both nationally and internationally, including solo shows at The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA; Museum of Art, Fort Collins, CO; Museum of American Glass: International Center for Contemporary Art, Tacoma, WA; Carnegie Art Museum, Oxnard, CA; Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA; GlazenHuis Museum, Belgium; Nation Glass Centre Museum, England; and the National Glasmiseum, Holland. Their work can be found in many notable permanent collections, including Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York; Museum of American Glass, Millville, New Jersey; The Kanazu Museum, Kanazu, Japan; and Frauenau Glass Museum, Frauenau, Bavaria, Germany. They have received the USA Artists Fellowship award, The Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, The Joan Mitchell Foundation Award, and the San Diego Art Prize. They have completed many major public art projects and have participated in four biennales. They live and work on both sides of the border, splitting their time between the Guadalupe Valley in Baja California, Mexico, and San Diego, California.

Photos by Philipp Scholz Rittermann