You're My Favorite Kind of American at Rhona Hoffman

The diversity of work on display for You’re My Favorite Kind of American made it seem more like a group show than a one-man exhibition. Drawing on inspiration from hip-hop culture and his Cuban heritage, jack-of-all-trades Luis Gispert uses photography, film, and sculpture to investigate notions of the individual, customizing, and consumer culture.
The show features several photographs of customized vehicles looking out over landscapes. The pictures, all taken from the cockpit or front seat, seek to show how the individual manipulates things to taste. While the owners of the vehicles have chosen how to manipulate them, Gispert changes the landscapes to suit his own taste. In untitled (L.V. Escalade), the Cadillac is modified with a white leather interior featuring the iconic Louis Vuitton monogram. It overlooks a field in winter where two blank billboards sit in a small grove. The lack of advertising on the billboards contrasts the overworked car interior. These newer photographs, while exploring similar themes as his past work like the Cheerleader series, show a growth and maturation.
The other works on show feels secondary to the photographs, but have equally important ideas. In a short film Rene, Gispert, who actually has a BFA in film from SAIC, follows a Cuban immigrant through his daily life. The film shows a development and more natural approach than his previous work like Smother. The show also includes two sculptures in the shape of crack cocaine with heart shaped cutouts for speakers. One sculpture, They All Can’t Be Big Ideas, rests on a box of grape soda, and the other, Green Grocers Apostrophe, is propped upon a box of Newport cigarettes. The craftsmanship of the work is somewhat reminiscent of Robert Gober. The work tries to give a like life quality to reproduced items, but the presence of the artist’s hand is still visible. If Gispert’s work speaks to hip-hop culture, then it needs to be polished and streamlined like the customized vehicles. Realistic rendering would also direct focus towards content rather than craft, and put the sculptures on par with the photographs and film.