Linea - Escaparates de Tijuana 1-4, 2003

graphite and charcoal on 4 wood panels, 24 x 192 inches
Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego

: : Artist Statement : :

This cityscape eschews Crosthwaite's fleshy nudes from this period and instead focuses on the body of Tijuana itself, spread out into a long panorama of unidentifiable cement buildings. "I wanted to create the general impression of an impoverished city, where windows, doors, buildings have just been put up out of necessity."

While Linea is a tribute to Tijuana’s architectural improvisation, it is also a reference to the way the US-Mexico border, known colloquially as "la linea" or "the line," has impacted the development of Tijuana as a place. Residents will tell you that the randomness and the chaos of the buildings are the city's two key aesthetic elements. Those who migrate north to cross the border to the US end up staying in Tijuana. They build homes out of what they can (discarded refrigerator doors and tires) and where they can (on hillsides, behind stores). Architect Raul Cardenas, founder of the design collective Torolab, calls the city's dominate style "emergency architecture," where "the ephemeral becomes permanent." With each new wave of arrivals, the city is reborn and as its people are in constant motion, Tijuana is a city that never fully settles into itself.



: : Exhibition History : :

2006
TRANSactions: Contemporary Latin American and Latino Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego
2006





: : Press : :

02/08/08
Spend Your Weekend Thinking - TRANSactions Exhibition Review, Felicia Feaster, Creative Loafing Atlanta
12/24/07
Nuevo Cool, Daniel Hernandez, LA Weekly
01/30/07
Tijuana's Scrappy Spirit Reaches Across the Border, David Pagel, The Los Angles Times
01/07
Strange New World: Art and Design from Tijuana, Alessandra Moctezuma, Artforum International Magazine
12/06
Inventing Tijuana, Leah Ollman, Art in America
04/08/06
Tijuana's Strange New World, Joanna Shaw-Eagle, The Washington Times
04/06
03/06
Neighborhood Art Exhibits Not to Miss, Anthony L. Harvey, The InTowner Newspaper
12/24/04
The New Border Aesthetic, Josh Kun, Los Angeles Times Magazine