"What I'm after is the liquidity of things, how one things leads you on to the rest... The works are about concentration, intention, and paths of thought: the flow of totality in our perception, the fragmentation of the river of phenomenon." — Gabriel Orozco.
CHRONOS (TIME) + TOPOS (SPACE) = CHRONOTOPE
Gabriel Orozco: Chronotopic is a really fascinating major survey of the artist's oeuvre at White Cube Bermondsey exactly 20 years after his debut show with White Cube. It brings together approximately 200 new and existing works spanning sculpture, painting, photography, assemblage and works on paper, from Orozco's early career in the 90s to the present day. The exhibition takes the form of a travelogue through time and space. Drawing on the artist’s interests in play and games the show moves through different zones as well as tropes from sci-fi and archaeology. At the entrance to the gallery space we are met with an installation entitled The Clapping Industry (Lluvia de Aplausos), a host of umbrellas opened up and suspended from the roof with an accompanying soundtrack of falling rain playing in the background. That long entrance gallery space is also lined with a series of bamboo sticks, sections of which have been gilded gold, resembling lightning rods ready to channel flashes of electrostatic discharges. In one of the first gallery spaces we encounter his iconic sculpture La DS, 1993, a1950s classic French Citroën DS car spliced open and reconfigured with the interior horizontal section cut from the automobile, and the remaining two halves reassembled so the car maintains its distorted formal qualities. A mirror inserted on the driver's side of the automobile, furthers the illusion of the car still being drivable. "I have been interested in this notion of space that is still there and how a thin line that divides two bodies is not measurable. Of course, physically it is very thin, but emotionally or mentally it is much bigger and is immeasurable. In my work, I think, it is that space which interests me as a sculptor." says Orozco of the piece. The sculpture could be thought of as a sort of spaceship given Orozco's interest in the universe and certain concepts of time. What fascinated me most here were Orozco's tempera and gold leaf paintings from his Sundial and Samurai Tree Paintings series. Gold leaf seems to feature in much of Orozco's work, as like an alchemist he transforms/elevates seemingly ordinary objects into art through his use of this precious metal. Influenced by diagrams these Sundial paintings connect to the artist's fascination with astronomical instruments, and ancient observatories (like the Jantar Mantar in India), and his earlier photographic works dealing with time and geometry, such as Sundial of Jaipur (1997). These paintings are found in White Cube's largest gallery space. As is the case with my own work, circles and geometry and the use of gold leaf play an integral part in that of Orozco's art. The curator, Briony Fer states - "Orozco has always thought of the circle as an instrument or device to work with, as opposed to a static form in an artistic composition. It has evolved in his work as a temporal and spatial tool – like a navigational instrument that he uses to open art to the reality out of which it is ultimately made. The circle has proved remarkably elastic over the last several decades and endlessly adaptable. Rather than thinking about time in terms of a linear progression, always marching inexorably on, cyclical models of time tend to loop backwards and forward, crossing cultures across the world. Like memory, or like sci-fi, this plays havoc with timekeeping. Seen through this chronotopic lens, Orozco’s work presents a series of questions rather than definitive answers and solutions: How does time enter the artwork? Can art be a form of time-travel? Why are we so invested in the idea that art is beyond time and timeless, when maybe the problem is it’s just too full of time?" The recurring circles and rotations are not merely decorative motifs but navigational devices connecting games, bodies, planetary systems and different models of time in his work. Also displayed in this space were two of Orozco's Working Tables series which he began in 1996. They are large, flat tables displaying collections of sketches, left-overs and unfinished artworks. On this occasion these works-in-progress contained the most ethereal, abstract watercolour paintings on Kleenex tissue paper like blobby Rorschach tests, or samples of tie-dyed textiles. The colours were so intense and dreamy, forming the most beautiful patterns. These tables afford the viewer an understanding and glimpse into Orozco's working practices as well as insight into the connections between different pieces of his output. I like the way in which Orozco has no hierarchy in his use of materials transferring from working with a material as precious as gold, to that of the cheapest, most disposable Kleenex tissue. This was the most inspiring room of the exhibition for me as it opened up possibilities for the development of my own work. After this at the end of the White Cube's long corridor space was Blind Signs, 2013, a series of interconnecting glass panels forming a little labyrinth onto which had been printed black circles in a cross formations like glyphs. The last room contained Orozco's Visible Labor, 2016 sculptures. These were a forest of sizeable felled timbers from demolished Japanese temples and houses with tsugite and shiguchi joints along their bodies. Almost hidden from view within the timbers are small Buddha figures displaying varied gestures of the hand and body, as well as toy cars which reference Orozco's La DS, Citroën sculpture. This was my first face-to-face encounter with any of Orozco's body of work other than online, and I spent much longer than I usually do in exhibitions, absorbing his aesthetic. I loved it. Orozco has said a number of times that he aims to “disappoint the viewer.” In other words, his work can sometimes seem underwhelming to those who may have come to the experience with certain expectations. I came with little expectation but left utterly inspired, with those little expectations more than fulfilled.
Gabriel Orozco: Chronotopic
until 8th November
White Cube Bermondsey
144–152 Bermondsey Street
London
SE1 3TQ
