Apparition in the Hood

Rubén Ortiz Torres, artist

born 1964

Apparition in the Hood, 1992

Where object was made: Mexico

Material/technique: chromogenic color print

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 508 x 610 mm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 20 x 24 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 24 x 32 in

Credit line: Museum purchase

Accession number: 1993.0042

Not on display

Add to portfolio

If you wish to reproduce this image, please submit an image request

Images

Label texts

Exhibition Label:
"Contemporary Photographs: Rethinking the Genres," Oct-2000, Rachel Epp Buller
Ortíz-Torres came to the United States on a Fulbright Fellowship to study at the California Institute of Arts from 1990 to 1992. While there, he photographed the Latino/Latina communities of southern California. With a unique perspective on the border between insider and outsider, Ortíz-Torres focused particularly on the community’s secularized Catholicism. Apparition in the Hood demonstrates the intersection of religion and popular culture. The appearance of the Virgin in acidic colors on the hood of a Camaro testifies to the community’s competing interests of Catholicism and car culture. The work also exemplifies the updating of an historically significant religious theme.

Exhibition Label:
"Signs of Faith: Photographs from the Collection," Oct-2001, Elissa L.Anderson
The Virgin of Guadalupe, a familiar Catholic icon takes on new meaning by being painted on the hood of a Camaro in Orítz-Torres’s photograph. Religion and pop culture become tightly interwoven in the image, signifying the devotion to both faith and material goods in southern California’s Latino communities, where this picture was made.