Working Table
A significant work within Orozco’s oeuvre, this major installation belongs to his ongoing series of Working Tables started at the beginning of his career, around 1991. They consist of heterogenous displays of objects gathered over a period of time in a variety of media: mock-ups and models, ideas for sculptures that may not have taken hold, found objects, and natural materials. They act as repositories of the artist’s creative process, choice of materials, and technical methods. For this Working Table, Orozco assembled more than 700 pieces made across his studios in France, Japan, Mexico, and Bali, which can be scrutinized according to groups or series. Several glazed ceramic and unfired clay objects were directly inspired by the surrounding natural landscape of the artist’s studio in Saint Fargeau, France. Delicate imprints of dry leaves and flowers or dead insects on clay tablets resemble prehistoric fossils. Stone pieces carved with geometric motifs from his studio in Mexico were influenced by the sculptural idiom of the Aztecs. A group of wooden objects were created in his Bali studio where the artist sketched the mythical creatures depicted in Balinese wood carvings. Other components, arranged roughly following a taxonomic system, include metal tools, bamboo strips, chromed aluminum sculptures, plastic replicas of food, cast whale bones, and gouaches on paper. The result is no less than the redefinition of sculpture’s confines.
Artwork Details
- Title: Working Table
- Artist: Gabriel Orozco (Mexican, born Jalapa Enriquez, 1962)
- Date: 2000–2022
- Medium: Mixed media
- Dimensions: 96 in. × 16 ft. (243.8 × 487.7 cm)
- Classifications: Installations, Sculpture, Works on Paper
- Credit Line: Purchase, Mayer Fund, Estrellita and Daniel Brodsky, Latin American Art Initiative, Yolanda Santos, Isabel and Agustín Coppel, and Catherine Petitgas Gifts, and funds from various donors, 2023
- Object Number: 2023.127.1–.768
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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Gabriel Orozco
1993, printed 2000
Gabriel Orozco
1993
Gabriel Orozco
1998
Gabriel Orozco
1993
Gabriel Orozco
1998
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