Ruben Ochoa’s and Marco Rios’ collaborative sculptural project, Rigor Motors, conflated coffins with custom-cars. The work was inspired by the feeling that the car is in more control of the person, rather than the other way around. They realized that they more often sit in a driving position than they do in a prone, sleeping position. They asked themselves, What if I died frozen in the driving position, and if so, what would the coffin look like?

Their project followed on the heels of Ruben Ochoa’s curatorial project, CLASS: C, which presented artists Matt Driggs’ and Joel Heflin’s halfpipe, an installation in the Museum’s lobby from July 1-5, 2004. The CLASS: C curatorial project sought to blur the lines between the high and low as well as the private and public spheres. CLASS: C is a mobile gallery that has been presenting an ongoing series of contextually specific exhibitions for the several years. Housed in the shell of an ’85 Chevy van, now with a fully customized interior, it once served as curator-artist Ruben Ochoa’s family’s tortilla delivery van, their family business.

Ruben Ochoa’s practice derives from the spaces he navigates through, from a past in street vending to working behind a desk now and commuting from city to city throughout the freeways of Southern California. Ochoa’s work has been exhibited within the Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange County area and most recently at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona. He recently received a California Community Foundation grant, and he will be included in the Orange County Museum of Art’s 2004 California Biennial. He received his MFA from University of California, Irvine in 2003.

Based in Los Angeles, the work of Marco Rios involves the use of the autobiographical and the irreverent. Often involving a cryptic analysis of everyday objects, events and places, the work is always then tied back to his own personal history and ongoing experience. Rios has recently exhibited at the Cartelle Gallery, in Marina del Rey, California.

Support for both projects was provided by the Laguna Craft Guild and Jacques Garnier. They are the first in a series of Sites Projects to utilize and activate non-exhibition sites in the Museum. Organized by Laguna Art Museum.