‘La Vida Lowrider’ - Cars as Canvases

Riding low to the ground, “She-Devil” basks in the lights, her bumper to fender lines impossibly long, her glossy grill an intricate pattern of curves and grids. She is a 1965 Buick Riviera, a lowrider’s dream and—says CSUN Chicana/o Studies professor Denise Sandoval—a “canvas for creative expression within the urban landscape.”

“She-Devil” and 22 other vintage vehicles are forever in their prime, thanks to the transformative powers of lowriders whose artistry and multicultural history are explored in a Petersen Automotive Museum exhibit curated by Sandoval. The 24 magnificent machines that comprise “La Vida Lowrider: Cruising the City of Angels” will be on display through June 2008 at the Wilshire Boulevard museum.

“Lowriders in Los Angeles reveal not only their passion for classic cars, but they also speak to the importance of visualizing and communicating cultural identity and community,” said Sandoval, whose fascination with the cars as art forms took seed in graduate school. She began researching the phenomenon when she discovered there are active lowriders as far away as Tokyo.

Her research eventually produced “La Vida Lowrider,” featuring vehicles whose transformation has consumed their creators’ passion, time and money—as much as $100,000 for one car. Sometimes mistakenly perceived as gang members, lowriders agonize over the reconfigurations, high-gloss paint application, chromed exhaust pipes and complicated hydraulic setups necessary to realize their visions.

A 1953 Chevrolet pickup truck is now “El Chavez Ravine,” its painted exterior chronicling the dislocation of Chavez Ravine residents and the rise of Dodger Stadium. “Gypsy Rose” is covered with painted roses. Those and all the other cars tell the stories of working class Los Angeles, said Sandoval. “Lowriders are now telling the stories of their communities, their culture, around the world.”