Jerga

Description

Gabriel Orozco’s images of banal or abject common objects demonstrate a methodical engagement with touch, volume, and gravity—sculptural concerns expressed in flat images. With Jerga, Orozco contemplated the aesthetic character of a crumpled fabric on the ground while simultaneously presenting a subtle account of class distinctions. In Spanish, the word jerga can mean either slang or a coarse cloth used to wash things. Here, an object of no particular meaning to the mainstream—in other words, those who do not have to mop floors for a living—takes on pointed significance for the subculture of those who use a rag mop daily at work and at home.

Jerga

Gabriel Orozco

2005, printed 2006

Accession Number

216715

Medium

Chromogenic print

Dimensions

Image, sight: 30.8 × 46.7 cm (12 3/16 × 18 7/16 in.); Frame: 54.6 × 70.7 × 3.5 cm (21 1/2 × 27 7/8 × 1 7/16 in.)

Classification

photograph

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Gift of Igor M. DaCosta