Cemetery
Orozco makes ephemeral sculptures-sand on a table, a shoebox in snow, clay bearing the imprint of his hand-that are given longer life by way of photography. Whether recording one of his own interventions in the landscape or a found situation, his photographs remind one of the fleeting beauty to be found in simple things and chance occurrences if we will but open our eyes and minds.
The artist is peripatetic, rooted in the materials and cultural traditions of Mexico but finding inspiration, collaboration, and opportunity around the world. In recent years, he has become particularly interested in ceramics in part because the hand-thrown pot is common to all cultures; last year the artist traveled to Mali to explore the production, uses, and meaning of ceramics in that culture. His trip took him to the legendarily remote city of Timbuktu on the border of the Sahara, an ancient trading post that took gold from West Africa to Europe. Little has changed in Timbuktu over the centuries, except that the Sahara increasingly encroaches on the city. Orozco stumbled on an old but still active cemetery where he found particular resonance in the terra-cotta grave markers scattered in the landscape as though he himself had created a site-specific installation. With his characteristically unfailing eye for color and form, the artist finds a vantage point from which the spherical pots, placed at the head of graves as markers and as receptacles for food and water offerings, appear as part of the natural landscape.
The artist is peripatetic, rooted in the materials and cultural traditions of Mexico but finding inspiration, collaboration, and opportunity around the world. In recent years, he has become particularly interested in ceramics in part because the hand-thrown pot is common to all cultures; last year the artist traveled to Mali to explore the production, uses, and meaning of ceramics in that culture. His trip took him to the legendarily remote city of Timbuktu on the border of the Sahara, an ancient trading post that took gold from West Africa to Europe. Little has changed in Timbuktu over the centuries, except that the Sahara increasingly encroaches on the city. Orozco stumbled on an old but still active cemetery where he found particular resonance in the terra-cotta grave markers scattered in the landscape as though he himself had created a site-specific installation. With his characteristically unfailing eye for color and form, the artist finds a vantage point from which the spherical pots, placed at the head of graves as markers and as receptacles for food and water offerings, appear as part of the natural landscape.
Artwork Details
- Title: Cemetery
- Artist: Gabriel Orozco (Mexican, born Jalapa Enriquez, 1962)
- Date: 2002
- Medium: Chromogenic print
- Dimensions: Image: 85.7 x 118.7 cm (33 3/4 x 46 3/4 in.)
Frame: 88.3 x 121.3 cm (34 3/4 x 47 3/4 in.) - Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Purchase, Hideyuki Osawa Gift, 2003
- Object Number: 2003.301
- Rights and Reproduction: © Gabriel Orozco
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Gabriel Orozco
1993, printed 2000
Gabriel Orozco
1993
Gabriel Orozco
1998
Gabriel Orozco
1993
Gabriel Orozco
1998
Research Resources
The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.