Rubén Ortiz-Torres
Jan Kesner Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Rubén Ortiz-Torres’ super-glossy colour photographs turn the urban world into a wild carnival ride on which your surroundings whirl by in a giddy, dizzying blur. Out of focus, shot at tilted angles and illuminated by glaring artificial lights, these rich images of ordinary people and everyday places capture the magic and anxiety of living in the city. Everything is in flux and moving with jittery swiftness in the Mexico-born, Los Angeles-based artist’s sumptuous celebrations of the possibilities presented when cultures rub shoulders in jam-packed, fast-paced juxtaposition.
Ortiz-Torrez’ potent show is titled ‘The House of Mirrors’, after a low budget, side-show attraction in which viewers pay to have their reflections thrown back at themselves in hilariously distorted forms. It revels in the fact that cultural identities are most interesting when they’re unsettling when, rather than confirming traditions and sho
Rubén Ortiz-Torres
