Calaca Lowrider. Full body skeleton sculpture riding a lowride youth bicycle. Carved wood, painted with acrylic paints, decorated with mixed media - clothes and accessories from thrift stores and the artists' children.

calaca sculpture on a low rider bike. wearing black tshirt and blue shorts, white tennis shoes and a colorful bandana

Artist Zarco Guerrero shared the history of this piece:

"The lowrider bike was my son Quetzal's. After he grew up and moved out, he kind of abandoned the bike. And because it's so much a rarity and in a sense a collectors item, plus it has a tremendous amount of sentimental value. It's the only bike I have left from my kids, because I kept it in our living room, it was always sitting in our living room as an installation. So I thought, 'You know what? I'm gonna put a calaca on that - riding the bike!'

It took me a long time to do, but little by little I carved the skeleton. The hands I had to do over a number of times because I first carved them in soft wood, and when I put them on the handlebars, if I moved the handlebars and it moved the hand ... 'Pop!", the fingers would just break right off.

For all those reasons it has a lot of sentimental value. Plus these characters they take on a personality! They have names. They have a place in the house. And they're always fun to look at. I think they bring a lot of joy! Not only when I look at them but also a lot of joy to the house."