Federica Schiavo Gallery

(*) AVAILABLE WORKS

Born in Sancti Spiritus, Cuba, in 1979, currently lives and works in Mexico City.

Known for using the city and its inhabitants as a context of his practice, Ariel Orozco is an artist who produces complex and challenging works of art with virtually nothing. Political and social by nature, his work largely consists of actions and interventions, which he methodically documents.

"I am interested in the public space as an extremely rich and complex zone, a human arena full of meanings and enigmas. I have tried to slightly alter places, orders and behaviors in order to affect meanings and significances, gestures and social mechanics that don't seem apparent or evident at simple sight; that's why I sometimes feel I play more the role of an archeologist who's in constant pursuit for the codes leading to an answer to conflicts of personal, political and social dimension. Many of the actions I do are the result of daily accidents and observations where I try to extract the essence of these events, sometimes the essence is not perceived or experienced immediately, and my goal at the exhibition space is for the withholder to spontaneously crack the codes leading (more towards a recognition than a discovery) at an intimate level. For me the everyday life is an enormous laboratory where we evaluate not only what happens in our lives and imagination but in the complex system of human interaction between individuals and their political and social context. Every object or documentation I have produced derives from an action or its notion, for me the resulting objects are a mere manifestation of my intervention, actions, sculptures, installations are sustained by a gesture which is the substance of my work."

After his graduation from the Instituto Superior de Arte, La Habana, Cuba, he studied at the Escuela Profesional de Artes Plásticas in Trinidad, Cuba.

Selected solo and group exhibitions: Licenciado, México City, Mexico (2017); Dimensions Variable, Miami, USA (2017); Galerie Perrotin, Paris, France (2016); Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York, USA (2016); Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery, Las Vegas, USA (2015); 12 Bienale de la Havana, La Havana, Cuba (2015); Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York, USA (2014); Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, Australia (2014); Fundaçâo Iberê Camargo, Porto Alegre, Brasil (2014); Galeria Servando, La Havana, Cuba (2014); Selma Feriani Gallery, London, UK (2013); Casa Fusión, México City, Mexico (2013); Casa Rafael Galván, México DF, Mexico (2013); Federica Schiavo Gallery, Rome, Italy (2012); Selma Feriani Gallery, London, UK (2011); Pinta Art Fair, London, UK (2011); Swiss Institute New York, New York, USA (2011); Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland (2010); Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy (2010); Museo de Arte de la Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público, México DF, Mexico (2010); Trolebos Galeria, México DF, Mexico (2009); Federica Schiavo Gallery, Rome, Italy (2009); Museo de Art Moderno, México DF, Mexico (2009); The X Baltic Triennal of International Art, Vilnus, Lithuania (2009); Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City, Mexico (2008); Dunkers kulturhus, Helsingborg, Sweden (2008); Galería Fernando Pradilla, Madrid, Spain (2008); Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2008); Suzanne Tarasieve, Paris, France (2007); Galerie Birgit Ostermeier, Berlin, Germany (2007); Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros, México DF, Mexico (2006); Virgil de Voldere Gallery, New York, USA (2006); Centro de la Imagen, México DF, Mexico (2006); Myto, México DF, Mexico (2005); Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales, La Habana, Cuba (2005); II Festival of Ephemeral Sculpture, Experimental Center of Plastic Arts 23 and C., La Habana, Cuba (2004); Cultural Exposition Center ICAI, La Habana, Cuba (2002); Contemporary Cuban Art Salon, Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales, La Habana, Cuba (2001).