White Cube, London Private Collection, Dallas Acquired from the above by the present owner
Catalogue Essay
“By introducing a carefully chosen, specific object (in continuation and in opposition to the principle of the readymade) and matching it with the principles of doubling and serial repetition in the random chance encounters of these vehicles in a vast urban territory, this work not only introduced a complex variation (and critical revision of three formal paradigms of Dada, Surrealist, and Minimalist procedures), but it also shifted from the dramatic performance of an act of public fissuring (in La DS) to an act of public fusion.” Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, “Gabriel Orozco: The Sculpture of Everyday Life,” in Gabriel Orozco (2000), p. 98
Gabriel Orozco's diverse practice, which includes sculpture, photography, painting and video, is centered on the rejection of the concept of a traditional studio. Alternatively, Orozco's conceptual process involves using quotidian objects as commentary on urban society. In the widely exhibited La DS (1993), Orozco cut a Citroën DS car into thirds, eliminating the central section and reconfiguring the remaining parts.
Another important motif in Orozco's lexicon is that of the colored ellipses. In his seminal series, Samurai Tree Invariants, the artist employs fragmented colored circles as the basis for geometric compositions, exploring the movements made by a knight on a chessboard. These not only represent Orozco's conceptual practices but illustrate his interest in both the geometric and organic world.