Rubén Ortiz Torres
Encyclopedia
Rubén Ortiz Torres is a Mexican photographer, painter, sculptor, film and video producer. He was the subject of the mid-career survey show Desmothernismo at the Huntington Beach Art Center, a show which toured to the Museo Universitario de Ciencias y Arte in Mexico City
.
His low-rider/video installation "Alien Toy" was shown as part of the InSite show in San Diego in 1997 then in 1998 at Track 16 in Los Angeles.
He co-directed the feature-length experimental documentary Frontierland with Jesse Lerner
in 1995.
Ortiz is currently a Faculty Member in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of California, San Diego
.
Ortiz publishes a blog entitled For The Record.
"Customization characterizes the art of Rubén Ortiz Torres in almost all media and offers an alternative avenue for approaching the issues of globalization so central to our current 'New World Order' and the various, sometimes conflicted, responses to this newest form of Euro-American dominance." (Chavoya)
Ortiz is noted as "one of the first artists in Mexico to position himself with-in Post-Modernisim." (Debroise p296)
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
.
His low-rider/video installation "Alien Toy" was shown as part of the InSite show in San Diego in 1997 then in 1998 at Track 16 in Los Angeles.
He co-directed the feature-length experimental documentary Frontierland with Jesse Lerner
Jesse Lerner
Jesse Lerner is a filmmaker and writer based in Los Angeles, California. His documentaries include Frontierland , about the blurred Latino experience in the United States; Ruins , The Atomic Sublime and The American Egypt Jesse Lerner is a filmmaker and writer based in Los Angeles, California....
in 1995.
Ortiz is currently a Faculty Member in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of California, San Diego
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...
.
Ortiz publishes a blog entitled For The Record.
"Customization characterizes the art of Rubén Ortiz Torres in almost all media and offers an alternative avenue for approaching the issues of globalization so central to our current 'New World Order' and the various, sometimes conflicted, responses to this newest form of Euro-American dominance." (Chavoya)
Ortiz is noted as "one of the first artists in Mexico to position himself with-in Post-Modernisim." (Debroise p296)
Film And Video
- 1986: "La Ciudad Rota" 3/4", Mexico City
- 1991: "How to Read Macho Mouse" 3/4", 8min 21 sec., L.A. Chingadera Productions (produced in collaboration with Aaron Anish), Cal Arts, Valencia, CA
- 1991: "The Fence", 10 min 13 sec., ChiL.A.ngo Productions, Cal Arts, Valencia, CA
- 1992: "Custom Mambo", 3/4" 5 min 13 sec., ChiL.A.ngo Productions, Cal Arts, Valencia, CA
- 1995: "Frontierland" (produced in collaboration with Jesse Lerner) 16mm/Betacam SP, 77min. ITVS, U.S. Mexico Fund for Culture, Banff Center for the Arts
- 1997: "Alien Toy", 3/4" SP, 8 mins., Raza Cosmica Productions, Los Angeles
- 2000: "La Zamba Del Chevy" 3D DVD 5 min. 56 sec., Raza Cósmica Productions, Los Angeles
- 2001: "Spectacle/ Spaztec Aztec Visits the Alamo" (produced in collaboration with Jimmy Mendiola_, 3D, DVD 5 min. 5 sec.
- 2002: "El Bodhisattva" (produced in collaboration with Eduardo Abaroa), DV 5 min. 55 sec. (continuous loop), Calimocho Styles, Los Angeles
- 2003: "Second Generation" (produced in collaboration with Eduardo Abaroa), DV 5 min. 39 sec. (continuous loop), Calimocho Styles, Los Angeles
- 2003: "Backyard Boogie Woogie" Looping DVD, Raza Cósmica Productions, Los Angeles
- 2003: P2-3D (produced in collaboration with Yoshua Okón), 3D DVD, 14 min., Calimocho Styles, Los Angeles
- 2003: "Mapping of the Mascott Genome" (produced in collaboration with Jimmy Mendiola) 2 synched DVDs on vertical Monitors, Bad Ass Pictures, Los Angeles
- 2004: "If Manhattan Doesn't Go to the Mountain ...", DV 60 min. (continuous loop), Raza Cósmica Productions, New York
- 2005: "Manhattan Dub" (with Music by Double Horizontal), DV 6 min. 2 sec., Lo Rez Crimez Productions, New York
- 2006: "The Dream of Reason Still Produces Monsters" DV 13 min. 7 sec., (continuous loop, projected in corner), Raza Cosmica Productions, Los Angeles
Books
- 1990: Posturas Tes Ensayos Sobre Realismo, Arte e Identidad en Cierto Arte de Fin de Siglo, Universidad Nacional Autóma de México, Mexico City, 90pp.
- 1993: The Big Sweep/La Gran Limpieza (with Steve Callis, Leslie Ernst and Sandra Ramirez), California Classics Books, Los Angeles 64pp.
- 1997: Murder in My Suite/Bienvendos al Hotel California, (with Steve Callis, Leslie Ernst and Sandra Ramirez) John Brown Books, Salem, OR, 64pp.
- 1998: Desmothernismo (with essays by Tyler Stallings and David Green), co-published by Smart Art Press, Santa Monica, CA , Huntington Beach Art Center, Huntington Beach, CA, and Travesísas, Guadalajara Mexico 72pp.
Public Collections
- Armand Hammer Museum of Art & Cultural Center - The Grunwald Center for the Graphic Art, Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
- Brooklyn MuseumBrooklyn MuseumThe Brooklyn Museum is an encyclopedia art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At 560,000 square feet, the museum holds New York City's second largest art collection with roughly 1.5 million works....
, BrooklynBrooklynBrooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated... - UCR/California Museum of Photography, Riverside, CaliforniaRiverside, CaliforniaRiverside is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, and the county seat of the eponymous county. Named for its location beside the Santa Ana River, it is the largest city in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area of Southern California, 4th largest inland California...
- Carnegie Art Museum, Oxnard, CaliforniaOxnard, CaliforniaOxnard is the 113th largest city in the United States, 19th largest city in California and largest city in Ventura County, California, by way of population. It is located at the western edge of the fertile Oxnard Plain, and is an important agricultural center, with its distinction as the...
- Centro Cultural de la RazaCentro Cultural de la RazaThe Centro Cultural de la Raza is a non-profit organization with the specific mission to create, preserve, promote and educate about Chicano, Mexicano, Indigenous and Latino art and culture...
, San Diego - Centro Cultural de Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City
- Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City
- Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Mexico City
- Colección JumexColección JumexThe La Colección Jumex is said to be the largest private contemporary art collection in Latin America, with works by Jeff Koons, Andreas Gursky and Gabriel Orozco....
, Mexico City - Long Beach Museum of ArtLong Beach Museum of ArtThe Long Beach Museum of Art is a museum located on Ocean Boulevard in the Bluff Park neighborhood of Long Beach, California. The museum occupies the historic 1912 Elizabeth Milbank Anderson house and carriage house and a new two-story pavilion, and includes oceanfront gardens. The museum is open...
, Long Beach, CaliforniaLong Beach, CaliforniaLong Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257... - Los Angeles County Museum of ArtLos Angeles County Museum of ArtThe Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits....
, Los Angeles - Metropolitan Museum of ArtMetropolitan Museum of ArtThe Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
, New York - National Museum of Mexican Art, ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
- Museo de Arte Moderno de Aguascalientes, AguascalientesAguascalientesAguascalientes is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 11 municipalities and its capital city is Aguascalientes....
, Mexico - Museo de la EstampaMuseo de la EstampaThe Museo de la Estampa is a museum in Mexico City, dedicated to the history, preservation and promotion of Mexican graphic arts. The word “estampa” means “engraving” or “printing” refers to works which have the quality of being reproducible and include seals, woodcuts, lithography and others...
, Mexico City - Museo Nacional de la Fotografía, PachucaPachucaPachuca, formally Pachuca de Soto is the capital of the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca de Soto is also the name of the municipality of which the city serves as municipal seat...
, Mexico - Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina SofíaMuseo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina SofíaThe Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía is the official name of Spain's national museum of 20th century art . The museum was officially inaugurated on September 10, 1992 and is named for Queen Sofia of Spain...
, MadridMadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan... - Museum of Contemporary Art, Los AngelesMuseum of Contemporary Art, Los AngelesThe Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles is a contemporary art museum with three locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near Walt Disney Concert Hall...
- Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego
- Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
- Museum of Modern Art, New York
- New York Public LibraryNew York Public LibraryThe New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
, New York - Spencer Museum of ArtSpencer Museum of ArtThe Spencer Museum of Art, or SMA, is an art museum on the campus of University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. While admission is free, donations are accepted. Also located inside the Spencer Museum of Art are the Kress Foundation Department of Art History, and the Murphy Library of Art &...
, Lawrence, KansasLawrence, KansasLawrence is the sixth largest city in the U.S. State of Kansas and the county seat of Douglas County. Located in northeastern Kansas, Lawrence is the anchor city of the Lawrence, Kansas, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Douglas County... - Tate ModernTate ModernTate Modern is a modern art gallery located in London, England. It is Britain's national gallery of international modern art and forms part of the Tate group . It is the most-visited modern art gallery in the world, with around 4.7 million visitors per year...
, London - Video Out, Vancouver
- Williams CollegeWilliams CollegeWilliams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...
, North Adams, MA
Collaborators
- Eduardo Abaroa (Calimocho Styles)
- AAron Anish (Chingaladeria Prouctions)
- Dewey Ambrosino (Lo Rez Crimez)
- Steven Callis (The Big Sweep, Murder in My Suite)
- Jesse LernerJesse LernerJesse Lerner is a filmmaker and writer based in Los Angeles, California. His documentaries include Frontierland , about the blurred Latino experience in the United States; Ruins , The Atomic Sublime and The American Egypt Jesse Lerner is a filmmaker and writer based in Los Angeles, California....
(Frontierland) - Konstantinos Mavromacalis (Lo Rez Crimez)
- Jimmy Mendiola (The A-Files, Bad Ass Pictures)
- Yoshua Okon (P2-3D)
- Francesco Siqueiros (Blood and Oil)