We tend to think of a natural disaster as something that happens in one bright instant of overwhelming, unstoppable power. It’s discordant to think of something so devastating as actually fragile at times, and with power that waxes and wanes through various stages of life. Einar and Jamex de la Torre’s latest glass art installation presents the fragility of force, decked out in a host of ancient and modern signals of change. Meteorite dall’Influenza Veneziana appears to us in the form of a large meteorite, studded with glass configurations and trailed by a blaze of color. Here, Murano glass techniques are uniquely presented alongside Mexican and American cultural elements, displaying cultural diffusion and the collaborative nature of glass art.
The meteorite’s circular form and central mask are inspired by the Aztec calendar, but upon closer inspection the symbols on its face, including the idiot lights of a car’s dashboard, are only familiar to the members of this modern age. The smaller glass forms orbiting the inner disk represent different types of viruses, a nod to the alternate meaning of influenza as a highly contagious disease, which rather accurately describes the mania for Venetian glass among glass traders at the peak of its secrecy. Einar de la Torre describes early Venetian glass culture as "a perpetual quarantine, kept in the island of Murano, but once leaked, the 'influenza Venetiana' rapidly infected the world of art glass."
The de la Torres’ style is not just to mix visible cultural elements, but to create a common ground between social and political themes as well. Born in Guadalajara and raised in the United States, the brothers have worked together for decades to stage their artworks on both sides of the border, opening them to endless interpretation and re-interpretation as they travel. The commentaries they provide have historically touched on subjects like the monstrosity of late-stage capitalism, the alien nature of competitive futurism, and the ability to accept global catastrophe. This work is their first to select the history of Venetian glass for this careful consideration, and to combine with it the characteristic bundle of alternate meanings to be paired and isolated as the viewer sees fit.
The modern conditions of cultural diffusion are not lost on the de la Torres. "The piece is a homage to the creative infusion that is brought in to our country periodically by surges of immigrants," Einar says. "These new Americans are first seen as opportunistic infections and later appreciated as national sources of strength, creativity, and diversity." Venetian glass had the luxury of demand throughout Europe, while the Mexican elements of the de la Torres’ works have reflected the intense devotion to beauty that leads immigrating cultures to carve out spaces of their own. Einar and Jamex, with their dual citizenships, might be followed by American admirers from one side of the border to the other to view their every exhibition, but Mexican glassworkers have never been afforded that privilege.
The meteorite complements a larger exhibition, on display in The Corning Museum through January 2025. Collidoscope: de la Torre Brothers Retro-Perspective was featured in the Summer 2024 issue of Glass Quarterly (#175), at which time Meteorite dall’Influenza Veneziana was still in the process of creation. This traveling exhibition was first displayed in 2022 at the Riverside Art Museum's Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture in Riverside, California, and arrived at Corning this past spring. The glass sculptures depicting various motifs, from glaring luchadores on ornamental pedestals to upright vessels wreathed with vibrant plant life, total over 40 when displayed together.
Although Collidoscope will be moving to Sacramento’s Crocker Art Museum in February, the Venetian artwork will remain as a part of the museum’s permanent collection. Corning visitors buying tickets over the summer to see the exhibition were also able to preview the meteorite before its unveiling, in various stages of composition. The process of witnessing a destruction being built piece by piece is particularly poignant in a time of uncertainty about climate change - and this is no accident. "The centerpiece’s idiot lights appear in most cars for us to ignore, like we do with the warning signs of climate catastrophe," Einar says. "Alas, glass making has a monstrous carbon footprint and that, too, is glaring at us."