A series of one-hundred masks constructed of everyday materials by the Mexican artist, featuring texts by writer and poet Luigi Amara.
Amidst quarantines and lockdowns, Damián Ortega hosted a paranormal masquerade. Invited were a Philanthropic Ogre, a Sweet Rodent, a Freak Brother, Fertility Ghost, Giacometti Dumpling, Acupuncturista, a Tango Singer, and Self Employed Pig, others too: a strange gang fashioned of bottle caps, tangles of string, tortillas, gourd shells, cactus leaves, and coins—whatever Ortega could find around the house. Masks welcomes you to join the ball, gathering one-hundred such disguises alongside essays by Luigi Amara.
Damián Ortega (born 1967 in Mexico City, lives and works in Mexico City and Berlin) began his career as a political cartoonist and his art has the intellectual rigour and sense of playfulness often associated with his previous occupation. Ortega's sculptures, installations, videos and actions are inspired by a wide range of mundane objects, from pick-axes to bricks, rubbish bins and tortillas, all subjected to what has been described as Ortega's characteristically “mischievous process of transformation and dysfunction.” His work explores specific economic, aesthetic and cultural situations and, in particular, how regional culture affects commodity consumption. He has exhibited internationally including solo exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia (2002), Kunsthalle Basel (2004), Tate Modern, London and Museu da Arte Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Brazil (2005), The Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, The Gallery at REDCAT, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2007), Centre Pompidou, Paris (2008), Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (2009), Barbican Curve Gallery, London (2010), The Freud Museum, London (2013) and the Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2014). Group exhibitions include the 50th Venice Biennale (2003), “Made in Mexico,” Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (2003) and the São Paulo Biennial (2006).
