Listen to Gabriel Orozco talking about the ‘Working Table’ pieces.
Summary of Research – Gabriel Orozco
In this short audio [1933] “Gabriel Orozco.Working Tables, (2000-2005)”recording Gabriel Orozco talks about his collection of objects and how he arrived at them. He notes that they are a collection of leftovers of working on projects, these are the detritus of trial after trial of his working. He notes that “together they are an accumulation of explorations”
He notes that he enjoys looking at things such as other artists workshops or a mechanical workshop, when there you see the tools and leftover bits of things.
He describes himself, his works and his processes thus – “the leftovers of an artist that works with leftovers. So, the leftover of the leftover or something. So they are just evidence of a process and, a lot of my work is that, is the showing the evidence of a process” (Moma.org, 2019) A transcript of the audio recording is also available online so he words can be studied in greater detail. (Moma.org, 2019)
In a short ‘Mediation on Working Tables by Chicago-based artist Philip Hartigan. He describes Orozco’s work “as like a lapidarium” with one major difference. A lapidarium is often the sideshow whereas with Orozco his collections are the main event. Orozco is saying this is not the leftover of my main work, this is the main work. (YouTube.com, 2019)
In another audio [3080] “Gabriel Orozco. Notebooks” at the Moma by Orozco he notes “ don’t have a studio because I will not know what to do in it. I don’t have a specific technique. I am changing all the time”. He describes not having a studio as an unstable condition and this is what he wants of himself. He wants to create outside the bubble of a studio. His notebook becomes the repository of his ideas, records, technical drawings, reproductions, collages; in a way it becomes his studio. (Moma.org, 2019)
Orozco’s works, his collections are described as materials made from – Unfired clay, straw, egg container, bottle caps, wire-mesh screen, string, stones, shells, plaster, bark, polystyrene foam, painted wood elements, pizza dough, and other materials. It looks like anything and everything can be used by him in his works. Everything but the kitchen sink, that seems to be omitted from the list. He doesn’t exclude any materials and the only defining criteria for using them is that they have to be leftovers!
In your learning log/blog reflect on his comments in relation to your own work for this project.
He calls himself an artist who uses leftovers. The items he uses in many of his works are the remains of something used. Before its use it had a value either an intrinsic value or a value in something he was making. Now with the project complete he has leftovers. These pieces of ‘rubbish’ have little or no value, except to him. How much for the leftover pizza remains, the broken plate or the pottery clay discards? But to Orozco they have value and a meaning.
Individually these are rubbish but collectively they give an insight into the other projects he does, what he will term as a cast-off, and what he sets value upon. To
His tables were described as like lapidariums, and that is a good description. They are like the castoff and broken items that linger in a museums’ basement. Of little value but still interesting enough when taken collectively to have ‘worth’.
My collection of objects on the table is such a collection, my objects have little value (except as noted earlier the highly priced prescription sunglasses). But this collection has a value to me.
I have arranged the items as a whole in a collective group whereas Orozco arranges his objects as stand-a-lone objects. If an item was removed from his table it might not be missed except by him, but my grouping with each item placed close to another might leave a ‘hole’ in the arrangement and be more obvious!
How do Orozco’s descriptions of his working process resonate with your own methods and approach?
Orozco describes his work as done outside a studio, in fact, he deliberately avoids working in one to keep himself off balance. From his statement we can conclude he feels he works best when outside his ‘comfort zones’.
The objects he has selected are laid out with space around them in a seemingly random order. But each piece is places careful in its own space. He allows the pieces to stand on their own merits before they can be regarded collectively into the table groups he has arranged. The pieces are called “Working Tables” but these are not working tables, no work will be done here. These tables are the remnants of work already done.
In his audio “Gabriel Orozco. Notebooks” he describes how integral his notebooks are to his working methods and research. He also notes that to stay unstable i.e. outside his comfort zones, he does not work in a studio.
My own practise involves a fair bit of studio work but I find comfort from work outside. I find that kind of working stimulates and invigorates.
As to working in notebooks, I use them more for completion of ideas using single sheets for the development of ideas. I find the single sheet method allows for placing and arranging and re-arranging the development of ideas and paths to follow.
Bibliography
Artnet.com. (2019). artnet Magazine. [online] Available at: http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/ features/saltz/gabriel-orozco1-4-10_detail.asp?picnum=5 [Accessed 5 Apr. 2019].
Listen Notes. (2019). Gabriel Orozco. Notebooks – Gabriel Orozco (podcast). [online] At: https://www.listennotes. com/podcasts/gabriel-orozco/gabriel-orozco-notebooks-mPWFqvxHJ3Y/#transcript [Accessed 5 Apr. 2019].
Moma.org. (2019). Museum of Modern Art | MoMA. [online] At: https://www.moma.org/multimedia /audio/174/ 1933 [Accessed 5 Apr. 2019].
Moma.org. (2019). Gabriel Orozco. Gabriel Orozco. Working Tables, 2000-2005. 2005. 2005 | MoMA. [online] Available at: https://www.moma.org/audio/playlist/240/3094 [Accessed 5 Apr. 2019]. [transcript of above)
YouTube. (2019). Meditation on ‘Working Tables’ (2000-2005) by Gabriel Orozco. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQH7a_A69qs [Accessed 5 Apr. 2019].
List of illustrations
Fig.2-1-3-1. Orozco, Gabriel; (2005). Table (Table in two parts). [online] . At: http://www.moma.org/ media/W1siZiIsIjEwMDcyMiJdLFsicCIsImNvbnZlcnQiLCItcmVzaXplIDIwMDB4MjAwMFx1MDAzZSJdXQ.jpg?sha=8d0f8a4fba3269fd (Accessed 4 April ’19)
Fig.2-1-3-2. Orozco, Gabriel; (2000 -2005). Working Tables. [online] . At: https://i.ytimg.com/ vi/hQH7a_A69qs/hqdefault.jpg (Accessed 4 April ’19)
Fig.2-1-3-3. Orozco, Gabriel; (2000 -2005). Working Tables (2). [online] . At:: http://images.artnet.com /images_us/magazine/features/saltz/saltz1-4-10-4.jpg (Accessed 4 April ’19)
Fig.2-1-3-4. Orozco, Gabriel; (2000 -2005). Working Tables (3). [online] . At:: https://www.moma.org /d/assets/W1siZiIsIjIwMTgvMTAvMzEvMmoyNGJxZ2d5YV8zMjczOC5qcGciXSxbInAiLCJjb252ZXJ0IiwiLXJlc2l6ZSAyMDAweDIwMDBcdTAwM2UiXV0/32738.jpg?sha=e4d3261fdebbe9c1 (Accessed 4 April ’19)
ET Painting 2 - Studio Practice 
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