Installation view of Desert Rider, 2022, Phoenix Art Museum.
ArtExhibitionsDesert Rider
Special-Engagement Exhibition

Desert Rider

Located in Steele Gallery

Desert Rider explores the sociopolitical realities and imaginative interpretations of automotive and skateboarding subcultures through diverse works by local Arizona and regional artists, focusing almost exclusively on Latinx and Indigenous perspectives that have defined the identity of the Southwest.

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ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Desert Rider is an exhibition inspired by modes of transportation in the Southwest that invite both reflection and introspection of our collective cultural imagination. While post-war culture of the 1950s has mythologized our dependence on and fascination with the automobile, this exhibition connects more closely to the counter culture developments of the 1960s epitomized in the Easy Rider phenomenon that occurred simultaneously with various civil unrest movements. Images of customized vehicles roaring through the wide-open landscapes of the American Southwest captured notions not only of freedom and liberty, but also rebellion and nonconformity.

(Header) Justin Favela, Gypsy Rose Piñata, 2022. Found objects, cardboard, Styrofoam, paper, and glue. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view, Desert Rider, 2022, Phoenix Art Museum.

Liz Cohen, Rio Grande, 2012. Chromogenic print. Courtesy of the artist.

Liz Cohen, Lowrider Builder and Child, 2012. Chromogenic print. Collection of Phoenix Art Museum. Museum purchase with funds provided by the Zuber Award and the Opatrny Family Foundation. Courtesy of the artist.
Douglas Miles, You’re Skating on Native Land, 2022. Apache skateboards, vinyl. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Desert Rider, 2022, Phoenix Art Museum.

Focused almost exclusively on Latinx and Indigenous artists, Desert Rider acknowledges the urgency to make space for voices and perspectives deeply rooted in the Southwestern region. Featured works include interrogations of masculinity and femininity in lowrider culture by Liz Cohen and Carlotta Boettcher; sculptures examining notions of migration and mobility by Betsabeé Romero and Justin Favela; and works by Cara Romero and Laurie Steelink that explore how self-described ‘Indian-ness’ negotiates traditional Indigenous values with contemporary life.

IMAGE CREDIT

Douglas Miles, You’re Skating on Native Land, 2022. Apache skateboards, vinyl. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Desert Rider, 2022, Phoenix Art Museum.

Margarita Cabrera, Agua que no has de beber dejala correr (Water That You Should Not Drink, Let It Run), 2006-2022. Vinyl and thread with model parts. Collection of the artist and courtesy of Tally Dunn Gallery, Dallas, Texas. Installation view, Desert Rider, 2022, Phoenix Art Museum.

By focusing on automobile and skateboarding subcultures as well as many other modes of transit, Desert Rider celebrates alternative voices united in an effort to change the world by challenging preconceived notions around identity and creative self-determination.

IMAGE CREDIT
Margarita Cabrera, Agua que no has de beber dejala correr (Water That You Should Not Drink, Let It Run), 2006-2022. Vinyl and thread with model parts. Collection of the artist and courtesy of Tally Dunn Gallery, Dallas, Texas. Installation view of Desert Rider, 2022, Phoenix Art Museum.

Justin Favela, Seven Magic Tires, 2022. Tires, paint, glue. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Desert Rider, 2022, Phoenix Art Museum.

Justin Favela, Seven Magic Tires, 2022. Tires, paint, glue. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Desert Rider, 2022, Phoenix Art Museum.
EXHIBITION SPONSORS

Desert Rider is organized by Phoenix Art Museum. It is made possible through the generosity of the Arizona Office of Tourism and Men’s Arts Council, with additional support from the Museum’s Circles of Support and Museum Members.

EXHIBITIONS

On view for a limited time, exhibitions present art from across the centuries and the globe, from iconic fashion to Old Master paintings, contemporary photography to historical objects of Asia.

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COLLECTIONS

Featuring more than 20,000 objects, the collection spans the globe, bringing the world to our city, and our city to the world.

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ARIZONA ARTIST AWARDS

Since 1986, Phoenix Art Museum has awarded more than $350,000 to over 200 Arizona-based artists through two annual artist awards opportunities.

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