Forty Tows

Forty Tows is a solo exhibition of work from Mario Ayala. The works in this exhibition draw on the visual language of parking lot signage, posted to police drivers on the conditions of their vehicle’s place and stay. Threatening impoundment and large fines, the tow signs offer contact information if their conditions are broken. Given the public nature of these signs, they often give equal authority to any passerby, enabling second hand policing. The dizzying ubiquity of motor vehicles around American metropolitan areas has also subsequently created a type of discriminatory regulation that produces abundant business opportunities for tow services to exploit public and private spaces. This cat-and mouse relationship creates a sometimes abused class-power structure that challenges how we move around space. Ayala adds to this canon, paying homage to Southern California’s cultural fabric with figures and vernacular motifs frequently referenced. Throughout this body of work, the viewer is greeted by historical figures, cartoon characters, imaginative wordplay, reworked logos, and other familiar imagery.

Parking lot signage does not actively take action over unattended vehicles, but its mere presence infers action will be taken. Standing tall day after day, a patina quickly develops from its continued exposure to the elements of its urban setting. Ayala highlights this weathering by imitating the scrawl of graffiti, the accretion of exhaust fumes and oil stains, and pinstriped wear to graphics from the signage’s corrugated construction. This series extends core motifs found in the artist’s broader body of work, where industrial and automotive imagery frequently appear as odes to the communities and subcultures that populate Southern California.