Lowriders and Chicano art

To complement the sequence Mexamerica: the Chicano Identity and Artwork, I am posting some images of lowriders. As you will be seeing in the sequence, art has an integral place in the Chicano identity. Lowrider cars and bikes are the Chicano everyman's artform. That is to say that not only "artists" make art, but everybody can be an artist. The history of lowriders is complex, but two things coincided in the 1920s starting it off; the geography of Los Angeles which is a horizontal city where a person needs a car to get anywhere and car ownership which was already at 1 car for every 2.25 people in Los Angeles (as compared with 1 for 7 people in the rest of the country) meaning that cheap second hand cars were available. Customizing cars began with Anglos making them lighter for racing and Mexican-Americans lowering down the back end for cruising more slowly. Customizing has evolved greatly, and now bicycles are customized as well. Here are a few examples.

                                  Frank Romero. The Closing of Whittier Blvd. Giclée print, 1999

We will be talking briefly about lowriders in class, and to a much greater extent Chicano poetry, murals and prints.

Here is a link to an interesting blog about Chicano art:
http://chicanoartmovement.tumblr.com/page/13

Enjoy!