Orozco: Natural Motion

At the Kunsthaus Bregenz, Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco will be showing new works alongside Dark Wave, one of his most spectacular installations, a gray whale skeleton almost 15 meter long.

Following a major retrospective from 2009 to 2011 (shown at the New York Museum of Modern Art, the Kunstmuseum Basel, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the Tate Modern in London), at the Kunsthaus Bregenz Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco will be showing for the most part new works that have been conceived specially for the exhibition.

In addition to the predominantly new works, the Kunsthaus Bregenz is also presenting one of the artist’s most spectacular installations. A gray whale stranded on the Spanish coast was the inspiration for Gabriel Orozco’s sensational, almost fifteen meter long work. In order to counter any possible decay of the whale skeleton, life-size reproductions of the individual bones were faithfully cast in artificial resin.

Top: Gabriel Orozco, Dark Wave, 2006. Calcium carbonate and resin with graphite cm 304 x 392 x 1375. Installation view Kunsthaus Bregenz 2013 Lender Essl Museum Klosterneuburg/Vienna. Photo Markus Tretter. © Gabriel Orozco and Kunsthaus Bregenz. Above: Gabriel Orozco, La DS Cornaline, 2013. Mixed media, cm 489 x 122 x 147. Installation view Kunsthaus Bregenz. Courtesy of the Artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, Paris. Photo Markus Tretter. © Gabriel Orozco and Kunsthaus Bregenz

Following this process lasting three months, Orozco had the Dark Wave skeleton completely covered with dynamic graphite drawings. The skeleton, suspended by steel cables, is reminiscent of an enormous mobile and offers visitors to the Kunsthaus the unique opportunity to encounter an enormous giant of the ocean at eye level. In this work, Gabriel Orozco has demonstrated the elementary power of nature, whilst also referencing ancient myths and biblical narratives. A further highpoint of the Bregenz exhibition is a new work by Orozco that cites one of his best-known earlier works in a modified version. With this startling conceptual gesture the artist not only questions his own reception – he at the same time puts the current validity of his already twenty-year oeuvre to the test.

Gabriel Orozco, La DS Cornaline, 2013. Mixed media, cm 489 x 122 x 147. Installation view Kunsthaus Bregenz. Courtesy of the Artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, Paris. Photo Markus Tretter. © Gabriel Orozco and Kunsthaus Bregenz

By including a number of his earlier works in his Bregenz exhibition, Orozco anchors his new works in his own history, allowing viewers to engage more deeply with his characteristic practice of spanning all genres and media. Born in 1962 in Xalapa in the Mexican state of Veracruz, and living today in New York, Paris, and Mexico City, Gabriel Orozco is one of the best-known international artists of his generation.
Until 6 October 2013
Gabriel Orozco. Natural Motion
Karl-Tizian-Platz 45, Bregenz
Austria

Gabriel Orozco, <i>KUB Billboards Seestraße</i>, Bregenz. Photo Rudolf Sagmeister. © Gabriel Orozco, Kunsthaus Bregenz
Gabriel Orozco, <i>KUB Billboards Seestraße</i>, Bregenz. Photo Rudolf Sagmeister. © Gabriel Orozco, Kunsthaus Bregenz
Gabriel Orozco, <i>La DS Cornaline</i>, 2013. Mixed media cm 489 x 122 x 147. Installation view Kunsthaus Bregenz. Courtesy of the Artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, Paris. Photo Markus Tretter. © Gabriel Orozco and Kunsthaus Bregenz
Gabriel Orozco, <i>La DS Cornaline</i>, 2013. Mixed media cm 489 x 122 x 147. Installation view Kunsthaus Bregenz. Courtesy of the Artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, Paris. Photo Markus Tretter. © Gabriel Orozco and Kunsthaus Bregenz
Gabriel Orozco, <i>La DS Cornaline</i>, 2013. Mixed media cm 489 x 122 x 147. Installation view Kunsthaus Bregenz. Courtesy of the Artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, Paris. Photo Markus Tretter. © Gabriel Orozco and Kunsthaus Bregenz
Gabriel Orozco, <i>La DS Cornaline</i>, 2013. Mixed media cm 489 x 122 x 147. Installation view Kunsthaus Bregenz. Courtesy of the Artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, Paris. Photo Markus Tretter. © Gabriel Orozco and Kunsthaus Bregenz
Gabriel Orozco, Installation view 1st floor, Kunsthaus Bregenz. Photo Markus Tretter. © Gabriel Orozco and Kunsthaus Bregenz
Gabriel Orozco, Installation view 1st floor, Kunsthaus Bregenz. Photo Markus Tretter. © Gabriel Orozco and Kunsthaus Bregenz
Gabriel Orozco, Installation view 1st floor, Kunsthaus Bregenz. Photo Markus Tretter. © Gabriel Orozco and Kunsthaus Bregenz
Gabriel Orozco, <i>Dark Wave</i>, 2006. Calcium carbonate and resin with graphite cm 304 x 392 x 1375. Installation view Kunsthaus Bregenz 2013 Lender Essl Museum Klosterneuburg/Vienna. Photo © Christian Hinz © Gabriel Orozco and Kunsthaus Bregenz
Gabriel Orozco, <i>Dark Wave</i>, 2006. Calcium carbonate and resin with graphite cm 304 x 392 x 1375. Installation view Kunsthaus Bregenz 2013 Lender Essl Museum Klosterneuburg/Vienna. Photo © Christian Hinz © Gabriel Orozco and Kunsthaus Bregen
Gabriel Orozco, <i>Dark Wave</i>, 2006. Calcium carbonate and resin with graphite cm 304 x 392 x 1375. Installation view Kunsthaus Bregenz 2013 Lender Essl Museum Klosterneuburg/Vienna. Photo © Christian Hinz © Gabriel Orozco and Kunsthaus Bregen