Monday 24 January 2011

Unfinished


Cazuelas (detail) 2002 Gabriel Orozco

So last week I finally got to see the Gabriel Orozco at the Tate. About a year ago I came across his stuff in an essay by Briony Fer - I didn’t really know much about his work at that point. So the proper introduction was through that Eva Hess exhibition at Camden arts centre. The show essentially focused on the beginnings of things, little actions, materials gestures that hovered between nothing and the final; this is where I came across Orozco’s ‘Cazuelas’ (beginnings). I was interested in these pieces for several reasons; the reoccurring circle/sphere, the ritualistic inspiration from Mali, the fact that he was somehow messing with the function of an object (before it could even prove itself useful) and his use of clay – which had a very strong affinity with Anna Mialino’s work. But I suppose it was the idea of something unfinished, something constantly in-between states that interested me. I also really loved his ‘Samurai’s Trees’ for totally different reasons - more aesthetic and ‘crafty’ ones.

I attended his talk at the Tate, it was quite funny at times - he seemed kinda bored with the situation. Although there is a lot of thought invested in the work, he was spoke about it rather casually, which I liked... but I’m not sure if I learned anything new from the experience - and the show? Well I’m starting to think that anything shown at Tate is too late… somehow that space managed to cut off the blood supply, you can mess with the name all you want but its still a museum. I bought the catalogue though, and in some ways I enjoyed that encounter more.

Any way I seem to be drawn to artists presenting the process at the moment (or maybe a fictionalised version of it). The very next day while nursing a hangover I came across Amanda Ross Ho. The work is incredibly referential of an existence in the studio – I like some of her stuff very much.

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