Merging Reality with Possibility: Artist Damián Ortega

Presented February 24, 2018 at Nasher Sculpture Center
Through the use of wit and humor, Damián Ortega deconstructs both familiar objects and processes, altering their functions and transforming them into novel experiences and scenarios. Ortega’s works play with a scale that ranges from the molecular to the cosmic, applying the concepts of physics to human interactions, in which chaos, accidents, and instability produce a system of relations in flux. Inverting and dissecting, reconfiguring and zooming in, he explores the tension that underlies every object and the infinite world inside them. The result of his inquiries reveals the interdependence of diverse components, be it within a complex engineered machine or a social system. Although his projects-which he envisions through drawing-take form in sculpture, installation, performance, film and photography, for Ortega the work of art is always an action, an event. His experiments inhabit a space where possibility and the quotidian converge to activate a new way of looking, one that transcends the original context of simple objects and everyday relations.
Damián Ortega Biography
Damián Ortega began his career as a political cartoonist. He joined the Taller de los viernes from 1987 to 1992. In 2005 he was awarded with the Hugo Boss Prize in New York, United States and in 2007 he was nominated to the Preis Der Nationalgalerie fur junge kunst of the Hamburguer Banhof, Germany. Damián Ortega currently lives and works in Mexico City.
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Presenting Sponsor of 360: Martha and Max Wells.
The 360 videography project is supported by Suzanne and Ansel Aberly: this support enables digital recording of all 360 Speaker Series programs and the creation of an online archive for learners of all ages.
Additional support for 360 Speaker Series provided by Sylvia Hougland and gifts given in her memory.