gabriel orozco
1962, Jalapa, Mexico
‘During the 1990s, Gabriel Orozco developed a solid body of work - both in the precise and concise way he dealt with his subject matters and for these subjects themselves: rare and powerful. Thus, his reputation as an artist with an acute puissance for the formal was rapidly established; as well as his bold and innovative understanding of the limits of sculpture - a bordering notion in which sculpture is reduced to its more immediate expression, left, at times, on the verge of extinction.’
- María Minera, Mexican art critic
Working through drawing, photography, sculpture and installation, Orozco draws from everyday materials and circumstances from his own encounters and routines. Playing with ideas of accessibility, his work revolves around recurrent themes and explores materials with multiplicity that allows the viewer’s imagination to discover creative associations between aspects of everyday life often overlooked or ignored. From the beginning of his career, Orozco’s nomadic lifestyle effected both the production and aesthetic of his work. His lack of a primary ‘home base’ lent a more fluid aspect to his production, allowing for the growth of a rich heteronomy of materials and themes marked by a conceptual openness to spontaneity and circumstance. Although it might be difficult to describe Orozco’s work in terms of a physical outcome – the artist has more of an interest in questions rather than statements, and emphasizes the potential within mutating materials, forms and meanings.
Gabriel Orozco was born in Jalapa in the Mexican state of Veracruz, to an artistic left-wing family that moved to Mexico City during his childhood. He studied at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, UNAM (1981-1984) and at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid (1986-1987). From 1987 to 1992, he led the Taller de los viernes (Friday Workshop), at his home in Tlalpan, which became a nexus of discussion and artistic production to which Abraham Cruzvillegas, Gabriel Kuri, Dr. Lakra and Damián Ortega all participated.
Gabriel Orozco has been the recipient of many awards, including: the REDCAT Award by REDCAT CalArts' downtown center for contemporary arts, Los Angeles (2015); Cultural Achievement Award granted by The Americas Society (2014); he was decorated as an officier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture (2012); and received the Blauorange Kunstpreis granted by the Deutsche Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbankende (2006).
Gabriel Orozco lives and works in Tokyo, Mexico City, New York and Paris.
sleeping dog, 1990
silver dye bleach print
20 x 16 in.
my hands are my heart, 1991
two silver dye bleach prints
9.13 x 12.5 in each
my hand is the memory of space, 1991
wooden ice cream spoons
variable dimensions
island whithin an island, 1993
silver dye bleach print
16 x 20 in.
yielding stone, 1992
digital print
15.98 x 20 in.
extension of reflection, 1992
digital print
15.98 x 20 in.
crazy tourist, 1991
digital print
16 x 20 in.
cats and watermelons, 1992
digital print
16 x 20 in.
la ds, 1993
modified citroën
55.16 x 189.96 x 45.31 in.
pinched ball, 1993
silver dye bleach print
16 x 20 in.
home run, 1993
oranges
variable dimensions
installation views of projects 41: gabriel orozco, museum of modern art, new york, 1993
empty shoe box, 1993
silver dye bleach print
16 x 20 in.
from roof to roof, 1993
silver dye bleach print
16 x 20 in.
four bicycles (there is always one direction), 1994
bicycles
77.99 x 87.99 x 87.99 in.
elevator, 1994
modified elevator cabin
95.98 x 95.98 x 60 in.
horses running endlessley, 1995
wood
3.38 x 34.38 x 34.38 in.
atomists: aspirilla, 1996
digital print
78.75 x 115 in.
ping-pond table, 1998
modified ping-pong table, water lilies, soil, stones and water
30 x 167.75 x 167.75 in.
working tables, 1991 - 2006
mixed media
variable dimensions
black kites, 1997
graphite on skull
8.5 x 5 x 6.25 in.
accelerated footballs, 2005
250 incised soccer balls
variable dimensions
carta blanca, 1999
rusty cans, beer labels, sand
variable dimensions
installation view of no. 91: gabriel orozco, portikus gallery, frankfurt, 1999
total perception, 2002
digital print
33.75 x 46.75 in.
cazuelas (beginnings), 2002
fired clay
variable dimensions
partial view of carlo scarpa's pensilina, made for the 26th venice biennale (1952), which served as the inspiration for shade between rings of air, which orozco presented at the 50th venice biennale (2003)
shade between rings of air, 2003
wood and metal
110.25 x 314.94 x 551.19 in.
mobile matrix, 2006
graphite on whale skeleton
77.19 x 428.75 x 104.75 in.
installation view at biblioteca vasconcelos, mexico city, 2006
mobile matrix, 2006
graphite on whale skeleton
77.19 x 428.75 x 104.75 in.
corteza de nopal con ojos de cristal, 2009
cactus, plastic eyes, pinewood base
variable dimensions
installation view of gabriel orozco, kurimanzutto, ciudad de méxico, 2009
brazos abiertos, 2009
cactus on pine wood base
110.91 x 117.64 x 43.31 in.
mapa estelar en árbol, 2009
graphite, calcium sulphate and animal glue on mango tree trunk
28.58 x 27.44 x 15.75 in.
solar graphite, 2006
graphite, calcium sulphate (plaster) and animal glue on cedar wood
21.85 x 21.85 in.
estructura tallada negra, 2009
graphite, calcium sulphate and animal glue on linen canvas
15.75 x 15.75 x 1.18 in.
samurai tree 6s, 2011
tempera and gold leaf on canvas
35.43 x 35.43 in.
samurai tree 1v, 2007
tempera and burnished gold leaf on linen canvas
29.53 x 29.53 x .98 in.
untitled (from the flag series), 2003
acrylic on cardboard
33.07 x 51.18 in.
installation view of the exhibition natural motion at the kunsthaus bregenz, austria, 2013
double axe, 2013
carved diorite river stone from the guerrero coast in mexico
8.66 x 16.14 x 10.43 in.
turtle rock, 2013
carved diorite riverstone from the guerrero coast in mexico
4.33 x 11.81 x 11.81 in.
Past solo exhibitions include: Gabriel Orozco, Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, NY (2023); Multiple Sights: The Tenth Anniversary of the Long Museum, Long Museum, Shanghai, China (2022); Diario de plantas, Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris (2022); Gabriel Orozco: Diario de plantas, White Cube, London (2022); Veladoras Arte Universal, as part of Siembra, kurimanzutto, Mexico City (2020); Rotating Objects, The Noguchi Museum, New York, NY (2019); Gabriel Orozco: Veladoras Arte Universal, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de Cuba, Havana (2019); OROXXO, kurimanzutto, Mexico City (2017); Gabriel Orozco, Aspen Art Museum, CO (2016); Fleurs Fantômes, as part of the triennial commission for the Château de Chaumont, Chaumont-sur-Loire, France (2014–2016); Gabriel Orozco–Inner Cycles, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT) (2015); Natural Motion, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2013) and Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden (2014); Gabriel Orozco: thinking in circles, The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland (2013); Gabriel Orozco: Asterisms, Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin (2012) and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY (2013); Gabriel Orozco, Tate Modern, London (2011); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2010); Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland (2010) and The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (2009); Gabriel Orozco, Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City (2006); Gabriel Orozco, Palacio de Cristal, Madrid (2005); Gabriel Orozco, Serpentine Gallery, London (2004); Gabriel Orozco, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA (2000); Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2000); and Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Monterrey (MARCO), Mexico (2000), among others.
Other major solo exhibitions of Orozco's work have been shown at: Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City (2007); Palacio de Cristal del Retiro, Madrid (2005); Serpentine Gallery, London (2004); Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City (2000); The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, MOCA (2000); Philadelphia Museum of Art, United States (1999); Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, United States (1994); Museum of Modern Art, New York (1993).
Past group exhibitions include: Black Mountain College and Mexico, Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, Asheville, North Carolina (2023); Energy: Sparks from the Collection, V&A South Kensington, UK (2023); Bohemia: History of an Idea 1950-2000, Kunsthalle Praha, Praga, Czech Republic (2023); Scale in Sculpture (1945 - 2000), Fundación Juan March, Madrid (2023); En el jardín: Colección Isabel y Agustín Coppel, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey (MARCO), Mexico (2023); COMPORTA 2023, Fortes de Aloia, Portugal; Las paradojas del internacionalismo (narradas por la colección del Tamayo) Parte 1, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2023); Colección Jumex: Todo se vuelve más ligero, Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2023), A Story of a Merchant, kurimanzutto, Mexico City (2023); TODOS JUNTOS (All Together), kurimanzutto, New York, NY (2022); Excepciones normales: Arte contemporáneo en México, Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2021); Duro Olowu: Seeing Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA Chicago), IL (2020); El Orden Material de las Cosas, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey (MARCO), Mexico (2019); Walking on the fade out lines, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China (2018); WE DREAM UNDER THE SAME SKY, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2017); Sculpture on the Move 1946–2016, Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland (2016); XLAÑYNU. Taller de los viernes, kurimanzutto, Mexico City (2016); Storylines: Contemporary Art at the Guggenheim, Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY (2015); Adventures of the Black Square: Abstract Art and Society 1915–2015, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2015); Une histoire. Art, architecture et design des années 1980 à nos jours, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2014); NYC 1993, Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star, New Museum, New York, NY (2013); México Inside Out: Themes in Art Since 1990, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX (2013); Through the Looking Brain, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany (2011); Antes de la resaca… Una fracción de los noventa de la Colección del MUAC, Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC-UNAM), Mexico City (2011); Between Here and There: Passages in Contemporary Photography, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (2010); Walker Evans and the Barn, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (2009); La invención de lo cotidiano, Museo Nacional de Arte (MUNAL), Mexico City (2008); Common Wealth, Tate Modern, London (2003), among others.
In 2003 he was curator of the collective exhibition Il Quotidiano Alterato as part of the 50th Venice Biennale. Gabriel Orozco’s work has been the subject of more than 25 monographs in different languages.
Read the full review on Gabreil Orozco's Retrospective at the MoMA: Range, Power and Beauty at ArtCulture Magazine.
Read the full review on Gabriel Orozco's notebooks at The MIT Press Reader.
Carlos Amorales, Gabriel Orozco, Damián Ortega, and Minerva Cuevas are participating in the exhibition "cien del MUAC".
kurimanzutto is proud to announce the group exhibition: Normal Exceptions: Contemporary Art in Mexico in Museo Jumex in which Abraham Cruzvillegas, Daniel Guzmán, Damián Ortega, Eduardo Abaroa, Gabriel Kuri, Gabriel Orozco, Iñaki Bonillas, and Miguel Calderón participate.
We are thrilled to be a part of this new gallery-led initiative - an online community of 50+ galleries dedicated to art from the Global South and its diaspora.
kurimanzutto is proud to participate in Art Basel OVR: Miami Beach 2020 featuring a selection of works by: Gabriel Orozco, Nairy Baghramian, Haegue Yang, Jimmie Durham, Damián Ortega, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Carlos Amorales, Roberto Gil de Montes, Wilfredo Prieto, Miguel Calderón.
On the Razor’s Edge is an international exhibition that brings together works within four thematic sections: migration and liberty; the human body; its environment; and the irrepressible and forever incomplete passage of time.
Orozco’s Obi Scrolls were fashioned by incising, rotating, and reversing sections of fragments of antique kimono sashes (obi). The results were then mounted on scrolls as paintings, converting conventions of wrapping into explicit content.
The creative poetry of Gabriel Orozco is the museum's international proposal for the programming of the 13th Bienal de La Havana.
