The High Art of Riding Low

By Tom Gomez

I recently had the privilege to visit the new lowrider exhibit, “The High Art of Riding Low”, at the renown Petersen Automotive Museum, located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile neighborhood of Los Angeles. The exhibit runs until June 3 2018, so you have plenty of time to see it. And I want to mentioned that you don’t have to be a lowrider or even a car enthusiast to enjoy this exhibit. Yes it’s car-oriented, but it’s about culture and art—and cars just happen to be the medium for it.

“The High Art of Riding Low” shows the impact of the lowrider as a cultural icon. The vast range of work on display, from sculptures, lithographs, drawings, paintings to photography, as well as the super tricked-out lowriders themselves that combine automotive ingenuity and artistic expression. You will be amazed at the quality of the exhibits from “Our Family Car,” a 1950 Chevrolet sedan painted by legendary artist Gilbert “Magu” Luján, “El Rey,” a 1963 Chevrolet Impala by Albert De Alba Sr., “El Muertorider,” a 1968 Chevy Impala by Artemio Rodríguez and John Jota Leaños, and “Gangster Squad ’39,” a 1939 Chevrolet Master Deluxe by Mister Cartoon.

The exhibit also features artists like Luis Tapia, Estevan Oriol, Germs a.k.a. Jaime Zacarias and El Moisés Terry L. Karges, Executive Director of the Petersen Automotive Museum said, “We at the museum are honored to be in a position to share this vibrant and thriving culture with those who might not otherwise be exposed to it. Chicano culture is so deeply intertwined with the culture of Los Angeles and automobiles represent a rich part of that.” ‘The High Art of Riding Low’ is going to be one of the most important exhibits we’ve curated.”

Just to give you an idea of the impact of this cool exhibit, I took my 19 year-old daughter to this exhibit. This poor kid has been to car shows since she was five years old. In the early years she loved it! You know kids, soda, cotton candy and their happy! Then they grow up, and they don’t want to hang out with Mom and Dad anymore.

Well, I can tell you as my daughter walked in and saw the exhibit, she was amazed at the quality of the art that was on display and her little kid amazement was back. She kept saying, “look at this one Dad, you should take a picture of that!” As a father, it made me so happy to see her walking from exhibit-to-exhibit actually interested and taking her own pictures! She couldn’t wait to show me her pics. Maybe all those years of tagging along with Dad paid off!

As a former editor of Lowrider magazine you might say I’m partial to the exhibit. Over the years of being around it, one gets desensitized to the style of the cars. But the one thing I’m always amazed at is the incredible paint jobs and attention to detail that goes into these rolling art exhibits, because no two cars are ever alike—especially on the full customs. That goes for the trucks and bicycles too, and the cool thing about most of the cars is that they are built by the owner in his or her garage—with makeshift paint booths and hours of painstaking love and dedication to the art. So, in the famous words of Lowrider magazine, “go low and slow.”

Above: “Tribute to Magu”, 2012, Jaime GERMS Zacarias, Collection of Paul Dunlap. The writer is a contributing editor for LACar. To see more photographs of the exhibit, go to LACar.com. For more information on “The High Art of Riding Low: Ranflas, Corazón e Inspiración” or to purchase tickets, please visit petersen.org or call (323) 930-CARS.