gabriel kuri
1970, Mexico City
Focusing on the objects and space that mediate human relationships, Gabriel Kuri explores the potential for transformation latent in familiar situations when observed from an unconventional angle. Playing with the principles of minimalism and the history of consumption, he integrates elements of everyday life into sculptures and collages. Residues of human interactions —plastic bags, advertising flyers, receipts, and tickets— are brought together with stones, coins, and cigarette butts, as well as industrial materials, such as cement, brushed steel, and insulation rolls. Kuri draws the viewer’s attention to the dynamic and unstable space at the intersection of two opposite concepts: in the precarious and yet precise meeting of the unexpected. The creation of systems is at the base of his artistic practice, ordering different elements until certain patterns begin to emerge and new semantic connections are generated between existing forms and their uses. Often accompanied by idioms and vernacular phrases, his pieces invite a multilayered dialogue between the verbal and the visual. He questions the given tenets of contemporary culture, through poetic juxtapositions and hybrid objects that rethink the mundane and find the eloquent and the extraordinary in daily life.
Gabriel Kuri joined Gabriel Orozco’s workshop Taller de los viernes from 1987 to 1991. In 1992, he received his BA in Visual Arts at Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas (UNAM) in Mexico City. In 1995 he completed his MFA at Goldsmiths University of London. He's been an artist in residence at Office for Contemporary Art Norway (2007), Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in New Zealand (2006), and the Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida (2002). In 2011, he was selected for an Artist Commission at The Armory Show and shortlisted for the BelgianArtPrize 2019.
Gabriel Kuri lives and works in Brussels, Belgium.
untitled (doy fe), 1998
cast fiberglass, enamel painted, steel, glass vitrine, lightbulb
55.12 x 55.12 x 39.37 in.
tree with chewing gum, 1999
digital print
51.18 x 34.25 in.
carretilla II, 1999
wheelbarrow, glass spheres
21.65 x 55.12 x 25.98 in.
the recurrence of the sublime, 2003
bowl, 3 avocados wrapped in newspaper from the day of the moonlanding july 21, 1969
5.51 in. height, 7.87 in. diameter
untitled (diario económico), 2004
trestle table, tarpaulin, damp moss, damp newspaper
59.84 x 54.33 x 31.5 in.
untitled (trinity), 2004
three working refrigerators, three hovering shopping bags
74.8 x 125.98 x 23.62 in.
quick standards, 2005
set of 3 emergency blanket taped on wooden sticks
variable dimensions
untitled (canoe), 2006
two marble plates, one aluminum can
39.37 x 15.75 x 3.15 in.
complimentary cornice and intervals, 2010
six marble slabs, courtesy cosmetics
56.69 x 92.52 x 1.18 in.
untitled (window and sales tickets), 2004
anti-pidgeon spikes on window ledges, sales tickets and receipts
variable dimensions
waiting stub lettuce, 2004
plastic lettuce, waiting (turn) stubs
variable dimensions
untitled (cohete despegando), 2007
consumption tickets, postcard and screenprint on paper
17.32 x 11.81 in.
magenta stripe polypthic gobelin tapestry (aereopuerto), 2008
set of four hand woven wool gobelins
aeropuerto: 94.49 x 45.28; mikasa: 124.02 x 59.06; sport city: 66.93 x 59.06; cremerie: 84.65 x 45.28 in.
untitled (world of ink), 2013
hand woven wool gobelin
155.12 x 58.66 in.
untitled (all red), 2005
adhesive labels (peeled off fruit and other perishables and products) on newspaper
22.05 x 29.92 in.
untitled (el país (all except red)), 2005
adhesive labels (peeled off fruit and other perishables and products) on newspaper
16.34 x 11.42 in.
c94, 2005
newspaper, turn stub, push pin
15.75 x 16.93 in.
untitled (aviones en círculo), 2006
turn stubs on vintage magazine page
12.2 x 15.55 in.
untitled (il est temps), 2006
turn stub on vintage magazine page
13.7 x 10.43 in.
untitled ("a 84"), 2007
turn stubs on vintage magazine page
12.99 x 10.51 in.
723 343 b73, 2009
rocks, turn stubs
variable dimensions
ejercicio 2005-2006 (V), 2006
till receipts, sales tickets, vouchers, rocks, plywood plinth
17.72 x 11.81 in.
especulaciones (análisis de riesgo I), 2007
painted plywood structure with weatherproof roofing roll, silicone
28.35 x 48.03 x 48.03 in.
overlapping statistics (blind olives eyelid), brussels, 2007
painted plywood, weather proof roofing roll, painted glass, tissue box, painted jar, insulation roll
9.45 x 48.03 x 48.03 in.
that runs through, 2009
bag of charcoal, stone, stack of financial times; archival box, newspaper, kitty litter, bag of kitty litter; wastebasket, mophead, backdrop paper.
140 x 88 x 54 in.
items in care of items II, 2008
painted steel, numbered magnetic discs, assorted items
variable dimensions
untitled 100%, 2011
painted metal (four parts)
155.12 x 52.76 x 53.35 in.
shelter, 2011
marble slabs, cans, wood, paint, clothes, metal guardrails, fabric
variable dimensions
self portrait as chart with looping volume, 2012
insulating material, string, concrete cast
45.67 x 39.37 x 7.87 in.
self portrait as chart with two point convergence, 2012
insulating material, string, two crushed aluminium drink cans
38.98 x 39.37 x 15.75 in.
dead filing cabinets, 2012
metal filing cabinets covered with impermeable membrane, asphalt plastic cement
52.17 x 18.5 x 28.35 inches and 42.13 x 20.87 x 28.54 in.
blind photocopier, 2012
photocopier covered with impermeable membrane, asphalt plastic cement
44.09 x 40.16 x 27.95 in.
flat hole, 2012
digital print on fabric
157.48 x 236.22 in.
inverted lightbox 2, 2012
lightbox, stainless steel, plexiglass, papers, tickets, turn stubs, plastic bags
47.44 x 71.14 x 7.48 in.
bottled water e.d.e. 5, 2013
stones, condoms, paper
variable dimensions
bottled water e.d.e. 1, 2013
stone, metal plate, paper
variable dimensions
bottled water e.d.e. 2, 2013
bottles, mixture of alcohol, base, paper
variable dimensions
balance of the invisible and the foreseeable, 2014
powder coated metal, donated sleeping bags
variable dimensions
untitled polling table, 2014
collapsible tables, painted metal dividers, donated toiletries, linen
variable dimensions
untitled polling table, 2014
collapsible tables, painted metal dividers, donated toiletries, linen
variable dimensions
Past solo exhibitions include: Gabriel Kuri, Aranya Art Center, Beidaihe, China (2023); Gabriel Kuri: Pronóstico, Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2023); Spending Static to Save Gas, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Glasgow (2020) and Oakville Gallery, Canada (2018); Gabriel Kuri: Sorted, Resorted, Wiels Contemporary Arts Center, Brussels, Belgium (2019); Afterthought is Never Binary, Sadie Coles HQ, London (2017); Product Testing Unit, Alte Fabrik, Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland (2016); Gabriel Kuri: with personal thanks to their contractual thingness, Aspen Art Museum, CO (2015); All probability resolves into form, The Common Guild, Glasgow, Scotland (2014); bottled water branded water, Parc Saint Léger, Centre d’art contemporain, Pougues-les-Eaux, France (2013); Gabriel Kuri, Bergen Kunsthall, Norway (2012); Nobody Needs to Know the Price of Your Saab, The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA Boston), MA (2011) and Blaffer Art Museum University of Houston, TX (2010); Soft Information in your Hard Facts, Museion – museo d’arte moderna e contemporanea di Bolzano, Italy (2010); Join the Dots and Make a Point, Bielefelder Kunstverein, Germany (2010); Model for a Victory Parade, Sadie Coles HQ, London (2008), among others.
His work has been included in recent group exhibitions such as: Colección Jumex: Todo se vuelve más ligero, Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2023); Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines, Brooklyn Museum, New York (2023); Chosen Memories, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (2023); KOLÉ SÉRÉ, BRAUNSFELDER, Cologne, Germany (2021); INFORMATION (Today), Kunsthalle Basel (2021), Switzerland; Excepciones normales: Arte contemporáneo en México, Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2021); Converter, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland (2018); ISelf Collection: The Upset Bucket, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2017–2018); Living Apart Together: Recent Acquisitions, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, United States (2017); L'Esprit du Bauhaus, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris (2016); The Distance of a Day, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem (2016); Strange Currencies: Art & Action in Mexico City, 1990-2000, The Galleries at Moore, Philadelphia, United States (2015); Made in L.A., Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2014); México Inside Out: Themes in Art Since 1990, The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, United States (2013); The Living Years: Art after 1989, The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, United States (2012); Pour un art pauvre: (inventaire du monde et de l'atelier), Carré d'Art - Musée d'art contemporain de Nîmes, France (2011); Keep it Real, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2010); All That Is Solid Melts into Air, M HKA- Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp, Belgium (2009); Unmonumental, New Museum, New York (2007); among many others.
He has participated in various biennials, including: Okoyama Triennale 2019, Japan; 32nd and 30st Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts, Slovenia (2015 and 2017); Desert X, Coachella Valley, United States (2017); 12 Bienal de la Habana, Cuba (2015); 54th and 50th Venice Biennial (2011 and 2003); 5 Berlin Biennale (2008); among others.
kurimanzutto is proud to announce the group exhibition: Normal Exceptions: Contemporary Art in Mexico in Museo Jumex in which Abraham Cruzvillegas, Daniel Guzmán, Damián Ortega, Eduardo Abaroa, Gabriel Kuri, Gabriel Orozco, Iñaki Bonillas, and Miguel Calderón participate.
Gabriel Kuri presents chinese whispers, a collection of airline blankets with adhesive fruit labels, in the group show gerlach en koop was machen Sie um zwei? Ich sclafe at GAK Bremen.
On the Razor’s Edge is an international exhibition that brings together works within four thematic sections: migration and liberty; the human body; its environment; and the irrepressible and forever incomplete passage of time.
For his first solo exhibition in Ireland, Kuri presents a new site-specific installation that recasts the cavernous architecture of the Douglas Hyde Gallery, creating a static field to reduce the building's energy use during the run of the exhibition.
Listen to the playlist La música el Japón by Gabriel Kuri on Spotify.
Listen to Gabriel Kuri's Spotify playlist de aquí para allá, sin ir más lejos.
Listen to the playlist Juan Gabriel Kuri on Spotify by Gabriel Kuri.
Listen to the playlist ritmo roto rito moro riro moto by Gabriel Kuri on Spotify.
This exhibition adopts materials as its organizing principle, sorting his works into four categories: paper, plastic, metal, and construction materials.
SI ONSITE is a series of commissioned and borrowed semi-permanent works and installations exhibited in non-gallery spaces of the building. In the reception area, reading room, stairways, hallways, roof, elevator and other interstitial spaces.
Encompassing work in sculpture, collage, installation and other media, Mexican-born, Brussels-based artist Gabriel Kuri frequently uses repurposed materials—natural, industrial and otherwise—to link questions of form with larger conversations surrounding how commodities are valued, circulated and assigned function. Inspired as readily by the principles of minimalism as by material histories, Kuri's works highlight the contingent and vernacular life of a given material or object alongside its more rational or systematic utility.
