He considers philosophical problems, such as the concept of infinity, and evokes them in humble moments, as in the photograph Pinched Ball, which depicts a deflated soccer ball filled with water. Matching his passion for political engagement with the poetry of chance encounters, Orozco’s photographs, sculptures, and installations propose a distinctive model for the ways in which artists can affect the world with their work. Orozco was featured at Documenta XI (2002), where his sensuous terra-cotta works explored the elegance and logic of traditional ceramics—a pointed commentary on Mexican craft and its place in a “high art” gallery space.

Orozco has shown his work at distinguished venues, including Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Philadelphia Museum of Art; and the Venice Biennale. A major retrospective of Orozco’s work was assembled at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, in 2000 and traveled to Museo Internacional Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, and Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Monterey, Mexico. Gabriel Orozco lives and works in New York, Paris, and Mexico City.