Mexican- American artist Gabriel Orozco brings to you his first solo exhibition called Asterisms at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. ‘Asterisms’ is a word that refers to the recognizable patterns that constellations form when viewed from the earth’s surface. It couldn’t be a more appropriate term to apply to the work on view, and for that matter, Orozco’s diverse body of work as a whole
The exhibition consists of a two-part sculptural and photographic installation comprising thousands of items of detritus the artist has gathered at two sites—a playing field near his home in New York and a protected coastal biosphere in Baja California Sur, Mexico, that is also the repository for flows of industrial and commercial waste from across the Pacific Ocean. Amongst the various installations, some of the highlights of this exhibition is ‘Sandstars’, a large-scale sculptural piece made from over 1200 articles which include plastic buoys, tennis balls, glass bottles, incandescent light bulbs, wooden oars, hardware such as screws and hinges collected from Isla Arena in Mexico, a wildlife reserve which is also a whale mating ground, whale cemetery and industrial wasteland, responding to the amounts of matter deposited there by ocean currents. The installation is accompanied by 12 photographic grids which depict the individual pieces accumulated by the artist.
Astroturf Constellation is another installation that comprises of a collection of small particles and miniscule forms of debris left behind by athletes and spectators in the Astroturf of a playing field on Pier 40 in New York. Orozco displays items which include coins, sneakers logos, soccer balls, candy wrappers, wads of chewing gum etc. Similar to the Sandstars installation, the objects are displayed alongside 13 gridded photographs.
The exhibition is organized by Nancy Spector, Deputy Director & Chief Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, and Joan Young, Director, Curatorial Affairs, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. The exhibition will be held at the Guggenheim Museum in New York until 13th January 2013.
