Fabrication and First Test.

We worked until the late hours of the night for a couple of months welding, cutting and installing in the metal shop of the Visual Arts department at UCSD while listening to a radio horror show in Spanish called “La Mano Peluda” (the Hairy Hand). We scavenged the junkyards of San Ysidro and Chula Vista. We bought a cheap used lift from Otay Mesa Sales that came all rusty with stains of cement and bad batteries. We got our hydraulics set up from Pro Hopper, the steel from Material Sales Inc and hardware from K Surplus.

Finally we were able to test the machine. Even though we still need to make some adjustments, it was very exciting to see how this portable monument unfolded, spun and danced. We will certainly need to change the used batteries that came with the lift since they are very weak and reinforce or change the frame of the basket because it bends with the force of the spin and the dance. We should also add some legs on the side of the body to make the lift more stable when it is unfolded so that it doesn’t collapse when we turn the steel arm to the side.

But once that is all done, we will soon be ready for the next stage of the production that involves metal flake painting, some chroming and as much pimping as we can afford.

Chava's Drawings.

Eventually I was invited to do a project with the Fabric Workshop in Philadelphia. I pitched them different ideas, among them customizing the scissor lift. They liked it and finally we are making it.

I am working with legendary radical bed dancer world champion Salvador “Chava” Muñoz from Colotlán, Jalisco. After seeing the photo montages and getting a used scissor lift we came up with a plan. The idea was to graft a Z-rack on top of the scissor lift. On the base of the basket we installed the hydraulic pumps and the batteries. On top of the Z-rack we are making a new basket that will unfold and spin. The Z-rack also turns and the base of the basket tilts up.

These are a couple of technical drawings that were made by Salvador to figure out the system and the flow of the oil in the hydraulic pumps.

High n' Low Rider.

After Monster Garage rejected the High n' Low Rider project I made a series of photomontages with new designs. A pick up truck would not fit in the majority of galleries or museums. The idea now was to make a scissor lift that would perform its regular functions and could dance and transform into an interesting sculpture. Some of the collages were more fantastic and extreme, making interesting graphic work. I showed them at OMR Gallery in Mexico City trying to convince them to use them to sell or pitch the production of the object.

An Art Project for Monster Garage.

Some time ago I met Ken Vose. He was writing a series of books for the television show Monster Garage. In them he included Alien Toy and The Garden of Earthly Delights. He asked me to propose a project to the show. On the show they customize cars to do particular unique challenges such as transforming a hot dog cart into a dragster or a Toyota into a mower. I suggested grafting a scissor lift into the bed of a pick up truck so it could be used in a museum to do the lighting or install artwork. The challenge for Jesse James (the famous biker and star of the program) would be to install art and do his antics in a museum. At the same time I was invited by Nato Thompson to participate in the exhibition The Interventionists at Mass Moca. The idea of the show was to “explore the works of artists who intervene in a greater public to bring attention to critical ideas.” This piece would have intervened the museum space with car culture as well as television and popular culture with art. At the same time this artwork would have revealed the work behind the installation of a show. At the end Jesse James did not want to do it. Apparently he wasn’t into the aesthetics and philosophy of “low n’ slow” suggested by hydraulics or being legitimized by a museum did not mean much to him.

These are some of the first sketches of the High n’ Low Rider.