Gabriel Orozco
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Gabriel Orozco (b. 1962) is a Mexican postminimalist artist. He was born in Jalapa, Veracruz, Mexico and educated in the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plasticas between 1981 and 1984. He then continued his education in Madrid at the Circulo de Bellas Artes between 1986 and 1987. Exploring the use of video, drawings, and installations in addition to his photographs and sculptures, Orozco allows the audience's imagination to explore the creative associations between oft-ignored objects in today's world. His work permits a rarely allowed interaction between the artwork and the audience. For instance, visitors at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, California could play a four person game of table tennis on Orozco's Ping Pond Table (1998). The work's center is a lily pond with four hemispherical ping pong table pieces arranged in a clover shape around it.
[edit] Descriptions of Works
- La D.S. is one of Orozco's largest works; a silver Citroën DS was sliced into three pieces lengthwise. The middle section was removed and the two remaining pieces were fastened together, forming an arrow-like car with a width 63.5 cm (25 inches) less than the original. Visitors may sit in the new vehicle and the doors and trunk can be opened though it was not made to drive.
- The 1996 creation, Oval with Pendulum is a small billiards table with a suspended ball.
- Yielding Stone is a large ball ofplasticine (modeling clay) that was rolled down city streets in 1992, making impressions in the ball and collecting various debris. The ball ultimately weighed as much as Orozco himself.
- Extension of Reflection (1992) is a photograph of ripples from a bike passing through a puddle. It exemplifies the typical pictures Orozco takes: those that focus on chance and fleeting events.
- Breath on Piano (1993) is another such picture, capturing the fog from Orozco's breathing.
- Mis Manos son mi Corazón (1991) is a set of two photographs of the torso of a bare-chested man (possibly Orozco). The first depicts him squeezing his hands around a ball of clay; the second shows the man unfold his hands and the resulting heart-shaped clay form is held in front of his chest.
- Horses Running Endlessly is an enlarged chess field of 256 square tiles. Knights of four distinct colors are arranged around the board.
[edit] Exhibitions
Orozco has had solo exhibitions in the Museum of Modern Art in New Mexico, London’s Institute of Contemporary Art, and the Stedelijk in Amsterdam.
