Tumbados by Guadalupe Rosales with Lokey Calderon
Exhibition dates
August 2024–2025
Credits
Organized by the Storefront Team
Lead Curator: José Esparza Chong Cuy
Graphic Design: Estudio Herrera
Photography: Michael Oliver
Tumbados is a long-term public artwork on the Storefront facade by Los Angeles artist Guadalupe Rosales with Dallas artist Lokey Calderon. Referencing the rich history of lowriders, which are a style of customized, colorful, and intricately painted cars with a dropped suspension, the work pays tribute to this multigenerational art form in Mexican-American culture and its significance within the built environment—from Los Angeles to New York, and beyond.
Originating in Southern California in the 1940s, lowriders, or “tumbados,” are more than just cars: they are extensions of those who drive them, embodying family traditions, neighborhood ties, political practices, and personal style. In this context, the term “cruising” is used when lowriders are paraded slowly through the streets. Cruising exists as both a community ritual and a contested practice, and is often met with the policing of brown bodies. Across the Storefront facade, Tumbados queers, rescales, and recontextualizes the aesthetics of this Chicanx art form, challenging its criminalization and creating a space for collective reclamation and celebration.
OPENING PROGRAM
The outdoor launch party for this project featured Klique and Drastic Car Clubs—with over a dozen lowriders and all—and a DJ set by Yesenia Rojas. Photography: Michael Oliver