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Lowrider Bikes
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by A. Dennis Gaxiola
Angel |
Ben |
Jennifer |
Julian |
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I first got involved with bikes through Willie. The whole idea of lowrider bikes, I believe, is related to my sense of cultural identity. It's something very artistic. It brings out your whole sense of who you are; brings out personality; brings out capabilities.
Lowrider culture has been stereotyped in a negative way. This is due to the actions that some people have taken, which haven't been very positive. For example, you hear about nicely lowered Regal with rims or an Impala that was used in a drive-by shooting. When this is reported in the news, it gives lowrider culture a bad name. When a lowrider car is involved in a shooting it takes the meaning away from a good person who just wants to show off their pride and joy through their car. When I am not working on bikes, I work as a waitress, server trainer, and flex manager at Coco's. I finished my AA degree last year. I have been taking classes to become certified for a job in law enforcement. My interest and love for lowrider bikes may not be typical for someone interested in law enforcement. But maybe when I get in I can help redirect attitudes to a more positive way of thinking about lowriders. I feel that by doing this, I will be an asset to my own community. |
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My bike is a Schwinn Pixie. The reason that they call it a Pixie is because it is a cross between a boy's frame and a girl's frame. I got it maybe two years ago. At first, it was just a Schwinn, and then we put forks on it, and a seat, and sissy bars, and all sorts of other stuff and then it turned into a lowrider. People think the bike is real cool. If somebody askes me if I built it myself sometimes I lie and say that I did, but most of the time I say that I did it with my Dad. I like working with my Dad on the bike because it is fun. I am starting to work in the shop a lot more often. If there is something wrong with a bike I try to fix it myself and if I can't figure it out after thinking about it for a while, I just go and ask my Dad.
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My Dad and I used to go to the Cinco de Mayo parade since I was a little kid and one day I saw a lowrider club riding the parade and I said "Dad, I really like those lowrider bikes and I want to get started..." At first I was not really sure if my Dad was really goin to help me get into it, but all of a sudden, one day, we went out and bought a frame and then we just started from the ground up and built it up... my Dad, he helped me a lot with it, but now I'm on my own. I am already in a club and we are riding a lot in the Cinco de Mayo parade.
When you first start out, you are really excited, you just want to build it fast. But it's a slow process, with the money and everything...but once you have done it, it feels really good to be out there in shows or parades, you feel really good inside when you have accomplished your ideas, 'cause you know people are watching you and they like your bike. |
Maribel Alvarez-Director, San Jose Center For Latino Arts
By placing lowrider bicycles in the context of an art gallery, this exhibition attempts to bring attention to low bikes as an important art form and cultural icon. When an ordinary object such as a bike begins to circulate “within the system of Art it acquires a depth of meaning, a breadth of importance” that can help focus attention on the interpretative richness of cultural practices that many of us simply take for granted. What is fascinating about lowrider bicycles is precisely their ability to move back and forth across the line that divides fuction from form, the ordinary from the extra-ordinary, the mundane from the sublime, and everyday life from Art. More importantly, lowrider bikes remind us of our ability as humans to invest objects and ordinary life with meaning.