The work of the Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco, notable for its emphasis on unexpected associations and conceptual relationships, has made him one of the most interesting and influential figures in the art world today.

Orozco does not confine himself to any particular medium, his explorations and investigations which often have a powerful social aspect, have been expressed in the form of sculpture, drawing, photography, and installations. What the different elements of his practice have in common is an emphasis on the intuitive and intellectual – as befits an artist who counts Marcel Duchamp, John Cage, and Jorge Luis Borges among his major influences.

This exhibition, his first in Ireland, will feature an important new sculptural piece. The Weight of the Sun brings into play many of the approaches and concerns that engage the artist: his predilection for ordinary found objects, an interest in the relationship between movement and stasis, and between dirt and detritus, his fondness for absurdity, and a fascination with the notion of ‘void’. The show will also include a selection of photographs, which echo and expand the ideas in The Weight of the Sun. A video, Jaipur Kites, will be exhibited in Gallery 2.

John Hutchinson

August, 2003

‘Prologue: The Broom’ by John Hutchinson, Of Games, The Infinite and Worlds: The Work of Gabriel Orozco, Douglas Hyde Gallery, 2003.

‘Epilogue: The Weight of the Sun’ by Miguel González Virgen, Of Games, The Infinite and Worlds: The Work of Gabriel Orozco, Douglas Hyde Gallery, 2003.

Image: Common Dreams, 1996, silver dye bleach print (Cibachrome), 40.6 x 50.8 cm. Image courtesy of the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York.