Sweet Chariot: Chrome, Cruising & Community
Lowrider Bikes in Kansas City
Featuring works by: Diverse Ones Bike Club • Olathe Leadership Lowrider Bike Club • Envied KC Bike Club • Ray Vann
February 11th -April 3rd
Opening Reception: Thursday, February 11th, 5-7 pm, RSVP required
Free Parking in the Cherry St. Garage, level 5
The UMKC Gallery of Art is pleased to introduce Sweet Chariot: Chrome, Cruising, & Community, Lowrider Bikes in Kansas City. Lowrider culture developed in the Southwest United States in the 1950s, as an expression of Latinx aesthetic style. Lowriders initially began with the restoration, renovation and adornment of cars, and eventually Latinx youth mirrored this art through bicycles. The production of lowrider bikes is a community effort where individuals pull together resources, technical skills and funding to build aesthetic objects that express community, cultural pride, material wealth and freedom.
Today this has blossomed into an art form practiced by young and old from different backgrounds and communities across the country. These bikes go through a rigorous process that starts with old steel framed Schwinn Bicycles obtained second-hand then modified, customized and accessorized to become glamorous, functional, moving sculptures. The UMKC Gallery of Art presents an exhibition of sculptures and documentation of the community that forms around the creation and presentation of these artistic and cultural objects here in Kansas City.
