gabriel kuri
1970, Mexico City
Gabriel Kuri focuses on objects and spaces that mediate human relationships to explore the untapped potential for transformation in the everyday. Engaging the principles of minimalism and capitalist consumption, he integrates elements of the familiar his collages and sculptures. Residues of human interactions—plastic bags, advertising flyers, receipts and tickets—are brought together through unexpected encounters with stones, coins and cigarette butts, as well as industrial materials, such as cement, brushed steel and insulation rolls. Often accompanied by idioms and vernacular phrases, his pieces invite a multilayered dialogue between the verbal and the visual. Kuri questions the given tenets of contemporary culture through poetic juxtapositions and hybrid objects that rethink the mundane and present the eloquence and extraordinary in daily life.
From 1987 to 1991, Kuri attended Gabriel Orozco’s workshop Taller de los viernes together with Abraham Cruzvillegas, Damián Ortega and Dr. Lakra. In 1992, he received a BA in Visual Arts from Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas (UNAM) in Mexico City, and completed his MFA at Goldsmiths, University of London, in 1995. He was artist in residence at the Office for Contemporary Art Norway (2007), Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Zealand (2006), and the Atlantic Center for the Arts, Florida (2002). Kuri was selected for an Artist Commission at The Armory Show in 2011 and shortlisted for the BelgianArtPrize 2019.
Gabriel Kuri lives and works in Brussels, Belgium.
untitled (-2/3), 2026
medium high density foam, acylat, conch shells, 56 x 56 x 18 cm (22 x 22 x 7 1/8 in)
untitled, 2025
wooden panel, steel sheet, printed tyvek, rocks
166 x 150 x 2 cm (65 3/8 x 59 x 3/4 in)
m.08, 2024
permanent ink on gesso primed canvas
59.2 x 42.5 x 2 cm (23 1/4 x 16 3/4 x 3/4 in.)
preemptive forms, 2023
powder coated steel, rocks
153 x 455 x 90 cm (60 1/4 x 179 1/8 x 35 3/8 in)
gain payé, 2023
hand woven wool gobelin
267 x 158.5 x 6 cm (105.12 x 62.4 x 2.36 in.)
encubrimiento estadístico, 2021
wood, acrylic, tobacco, paper, pet, sponge, cardboard, found objects, mixed media on orange carpet (35 elements)
200 x 717.5 x 30 cm (78.74 x 282.48 x 11.81 in.) variable dimensions
a taxonomy of chance, 2019
mixed media in magnetic stainless steel vitrine with light
150 x 100 x 6.5 cm (59.06 x 39.37 x 2.56 in.)
untitled, 2017
game boards and concrete
233 x 196 cm (98.43 x 77.17 in.)
looping trajectory through collapsable mountain 02 - 02, 2015, collapsible, accordion-fold metal stands, rolls aluminum flashing, large metal & plastic clips, 96 x 145.5 x 112.5 cm (37.8 x 57.28 x 44.29 in.)
compromised vertical growth, 2015
pyramidal stone atop stack of insulation materials
73 x 50.5 x 52 cm (28.74 x 19.88 x 20.47 in.)
untitled polling table, 2014
collapsible tables, painted metal dividers, donated toiletries, linen
variable dimensions
left of center and right of center alternatives, top to bottom and bottom to top, 2014
volcanic rock, metallic bin, spray painted acrylic, mixed media and wood, painted fiberglass and resin, concrete
100 x 187 x 50 cm (39.37 x 73.62 x 19.69 in.)
inverted lightbox 2, 2012
lightbox, stainless steel, plexiglass, papers, tickets, turn stubs, plastic bags, 120.5 x 180.7 x 19 cm (47.44 x 71.14 x 7.48 in.)
self portrait as chart with two point convergence, 2012
insulating material, string, two crushed aluminium drink cans, 99 x 100 x 40 cm (38.98 x 39.37 x 15.75 in.)
complimentary cornice and intervals, 2010
six marble slabs, courtesy cosmetics
144 x 235 x 3 cm (56.69 x 92.52 x 1.18 in.)
items in care of items II, 2008
painted steel, numbered magnetic discs, assorted items
variable dimensions
ejercicio 2005-2006 (VI), 2006
till receipts, sales tickets, vouchers, rocks, plywood plinth, 45 x 30 cm (17.72 x 11.81 in.)
quick standards, 2005
set of 3 emergency blanket taped on wooden sticks
variable dimensions
waiting stub lettuce, 2004
plastic lettuce, waiting (turn) stubs
variable dimensions
tree with chewing gum, 1999
digital print, 130 x 87 cm (51.18 x 34.25 in.)
untitled (doy fe), 1998
cast fiberglass, enamel painted, steel, glass vitrine, lightbulb, 140 x 140 x 100 cm (55.12 x 55.12 x 39.37 in.)
installation view forecast, museo jumex, mexico city, 2023.
photo: abigail enzaldo and emilio garcía
installation view forecast, museo jumex, mexico city, 2023.
photo: abigail enzaldo and emilio garcía
installation view forecast, museo jumex, mexico city, 2023.
photo: abigail enzaldo and emilio garcía
installation view spending static to save gas, the douglas hyde gallery, dublin, 2020. courtesy of the artist and the douglas hyde gallery.
photo: louis haugh
installation view spending static to save gas, the douglas hyde gallery, dublin, 2020. courtesy of the artist and the douglas hyde gallery.
photo: louis haugh
installation view spending static to save gas, the douglas hyde gallery, dublin, 2020. courtesy of the artist and the douglas hyde gallery.
photo: louis haugh
installation view sorted, resorted, wiels contemporary art centre, brussels, 2019. courtesy the artist; sadie coles hq; kurimanzutto, galleria franco noero; wiels contemporary art centre; esther schipper.
photo: andrea rossetti
installation view sorted, resorted, wiels contemporary art centre, brussels, 2019. courtesy the artist; sadie coles hq; kurimanzutto, galleria franco noero; wiels contemporary art centre; esther schipper.
photo: andrea rossetti
installation view sorted, resorted, wiels contemporary art centre, brussels, 2019. courtesy the artist; sadie coles hq; kurimanzutto, galleria franco noero; wiels contemporary art centre; esther schipper.
photo: andrea rossetti
installation view with personal thanks to their contractual thingness, aspen art museum, aspen, 2014. courtesy of aspen art museum and the artist.
installation view with personal thanks to their contractual thingness, aspen art museum, aspen, 2014. courtesy of aspen art museum and the artist.
installation view with personal thanks to their contractual thingness, aspen art museum, aspen, 2014. courtesy of aspen art museum and the artist.
installation view gabriel kuri as part of illuminations, 54 biennale di venezia, 2011. courtesy of the artist and kurimanzutto.
photo: sebastiano pellion
installation view gabriel kuri as part of illuminations, 54 biennale di venezia, 2011. courtesy of the artist and kurimanzutto.
photo: sebastiano pellion
installation view gabriel kuri as part of illuminations, 54 biennale di venezia, 2011. courtesy of the artist and kurimanzutto.
photo: sebastiano pellion
installation view nobody needs to know the price of your saab, blaffer art museum, houston, 2010. courtesy of the artist.
installation view gabriel kuri: nobody needs to know the price of your saab, blaffer art museum, houston, 2010. courtesy of the artist.
installation view gabriel kuri: nobody needs to know the price of your saab, blaffer art museum, houston, 2010. courtesy of the artist.
Past solo exhibitions include: your cost-benefit calculations, kurimanzutto, New York (2026); Gabriel Kuri, Aranya Art Center, Beidaihe, China (2023); Gabriel Kuri: Pronóstico, Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2023); Gabriel Kuri: Motion in Acceptance of An Impending Crash, Sadie Coles HQ, London (2022); Gabriel Kuri: Threshold into Deficit (the void after Fontana), Galleria Franco Noero, Turin, Italy (2021); Spending Static to Save Gas, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, Ireland (2020) and Oakville Gallery, Canada (2018); Gabriel Kuri, Walter Storms Galerie, Munich, Germany (2020); Gabriel Kuri: Sorted, Resorted, Wiels Contemporary Arts Center, Brussels, Belgium (2019); Afterthought is Never Binary, Sadie Coles HQ, London (2017); Product Testing Unit, Alte Fabrik, Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland (2016); Gabriel Kuri: with personal thanks to their contractual thingness, Aspen Art Museum, Colorado (2015); All probability resolves into form, The Common Guild, Glasgow, United Kingdom (2014); bottled water branded water, Parc Saint Léger, Centre d’art contemporain, Pougues-les-Eaux, France (2013); Gabriel Kuri, Bergen Kunsthall, Norway (2012); Nobody Needs to Know the Price of Your Saab, The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA Boston), Massachusetts (2011) and Blaffer Art Museum University of Houston, Texas (2010); Soft Information in your Hard Facts, Museion – museo d’arte moderna e contemporanea di Bolzano, Italy (2010); Join the Dots and Make a Point, Bielefelder Kunstverein, Germany (2010); Model for a Victory Parade, Sadie Coles HQ, London (2008), among others.
Past group exhibitions include: Prospect 2025, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, California (2025); Art is a Matter of Consciousness, Pavilhão Julião Sarmento, Lisboa, Portugal (2025); That Which Binds Us, Buffalo AKG Art Museum, New York (2024); The campus, Claverack, New York (2024); Un Inventario Insólito: Diálogos con el Surrealismo, kurimanzutto, Mexico City (2024); Colección Jumex: Todo se vuelve más ligero, Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2023); Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines, Brooklyn Museum, New York (2023); Chosen Memories, The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2023); Switch. Pop, Points and Politics From The Ludwig Collection, Ludwig Forum Aachen, Germany (2023); El tiempo en las cosas II. Salas de Arte Contemporáneo, Puebla, Mexico (2022); TODOS JUNTOS (All together), kurimanzutto, New York (2022); KOLÉ SÉRÉ, BRAUNSFELDER, Cologne, Germany (2021); INFORMATION (Today), Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland (2021); Excepciones normales: Arte contemporáneo en México, Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2021); Siembra, kurimanzutto, Mexico City (2020); Converter, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland (2018); ISelf Collection: The Upset Bucket, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2017–18); Living Apart Together: Recent Acquisitions, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2017); L'Esprit du Bauhaus, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris (2016); The Distance of a Day, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem (2016); Strange Currencies: Art & Action in Mexico City, 1990–2000, The Galleries at Moore, Moore College of Art & Design, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2015); Made in L.A. Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2014); México Inside Out: Themes in Art Since 1990, The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas (2013); The Living Years: Art after 1989, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota (2012); Pour un art pauvre (inventaire du monde et de l’atelier), Carré d'Art - Musée d'art contemporain de Nîmes, France (2011); Keep it Real, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2010); All That Is Solid Melts into Air, Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (M HKA), Belgium (2009); Unmonumental, New Museum, New York (2007), among others.
His work has been exhibited in various biennials, including: 32nd and 31st Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts, Slovenia (2015 and 2017); Desert X, Coachella Valley, California (2017); 12 Bienal de la Habana (2015); 50th and 54th International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennial (2011 and 2003); 5 Berlin Biennale (2008), among others.
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.
Gabriel Kuri presents chinese whispers, a collection of airline blankets with adhesive fruit labels, in the group show gerlach en koop was machen Sie um zwei? Ich sclafe at GAK Bremen.
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.
For his first solo exhibition in Ireland, Kuri presents a new site-specific installation that recasts the cavernous architecture of the Douglas Hyde Gallery, creating a static field to reduce the building's energy use during the run of the exhibition.
Listen to the playlist La música el Japón by Gabriel Kuri on Spotify.
Listen to Gabriel Kuri's Spotify playlist de aquí para allá, sin ir más lejos.
Listen to the playlist ritmo roto rito moro riro moto by Gabriel Kuri on Spotify.
Listen to the playlist Juan Gabriel Kuri on Spotify by Gabriel Kuri.
This exhibition adopts materials as its organizing principle, sorting his works into four categories: paper, plastic, metal, and construction materials.
SI ONSITE is a series of commissioned and borrowed semi-permanent works and installations exhibited in non-gallery spaces of the building. In the reception area, reading room, stairways, hallways, roof, elevator and other interstitial spaces.
Encompassing work in sculpture, collage, installation and other media, Mexican-born, Brussels-based artist Gabriel Kuri frequently uses repurposed materials—natural, industrial and otherwise—to link questions of form with larger conversations surrounding how commodities are valued, circulated and assigned function. Inspired as readily by the principles of minimalism as by material histories, Kuri's works highlight the contingent and vernacular life of a given material or object alongside its more rational or systematic utility.
