Einar and Jamex de la Torre

Einar and Jamex de la Torre were born in Guadalajara, México, in 1963 and 1960. In a sudden family move, the brothers moved to the United States in 1972, going from a traditional catholic school to a small California beach Town. They both attended California State University at Long Beach. Jamex received his BFA in Sculpture in 1983, while Einar decided against the utility of an art degree. The brothers live and work on both sides of the border, the Guadalupe Valley in Baja California, México, and San Diego, California. The complexities of the immigrant experience and contradicting bicultural identities and their current life and practice on both sides of the border inform their narrative and aesthetics. The brothers have been collaborating in earnest since the 1990s. 

Over the years, they have developed their signature style, featuring mixed-media work with blown glass sculpture and installation art. Their pieces represent a multifaceted view of life that reflects a complex and humorous aesthetic that could be seen as multi-layered baroque. Their approach is additive, constantly combining material and meaning. Influences range from religious iconography to German expressionism while paying homage to Mexican vernacular and pre-Columbian art. In the last 15 years, they have been creating photomural installations and using lenticular printing as a significant part of their repertoire. They have won the USA Artists Fellowship award, the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, The Joan Mitchell Foundation Award, and The San Diego Art Prize. They have had 18 solo museum exhibitions, completed eight major public art projects, and participated in 4 biennales. Recently, their work has been the subject of solo exhibitions such as Upward Mobility, held at the McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas, and their traveling exhibition Collidoscope: de la Torre Brothers Retro-Perspective has been held at museums such as the Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK; Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA, among others. They have been featured and reviewed in publications such as The New York Times, Artnews, and Glasstire.