Gabriel Orozco

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Gabriel Orozco.  Eyes Under Elephant Foot. GO09-07ps4

Gabriel Orozco. Eyes Under Elephant Foot. 2009

Beaucarnea trunk and glass eyes; 57 7/8 x 56 7/8 x 55 1/8" (147 x 144.5 x 140 cm); Charpenel Collection, Guadalajara, Mexico

Artist, Gabriel Orozco: I was traveling around Mexico, collecting these dead cacti and trees and stuff that was on the landscape.

In the case of the Eyes Under Elephant Foot, it got a bit more wild, because, is the bottom of this root, which is a palm that has this big trunk. And when they dry up and they die, the texture of these is quite amazing. These are very big, but light, almost like a foam. It’s kind of even mysterious for me why I decided to insert these eyes on the pores of this foam, but then, when you see it, you have this like dead plant that looks like a rock looking at you. So, it’s a very strange thing.

I guess I was working with the leftovers and recycling them, which is what nature does anyway.