Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco is known for his soft watercolour series, his abstract paintings and totemic wooden sculptures, and now it seems, he is adding horticulture to his repertoire.
‘The invitation to create a garden as a permanent art work presented a unique opportunity,’ explains the globetrotting artist of his latest work, the garden design at the South London Gallery.
Two years in the making and unveiled last weekend as the winter’s chill takes hold of the capital, the garden was designed alongside 6a architects – the same firm behind the gallery’s award-winning 2010 extension and current renovation of the former Peckham Road Fire Station – and horticulturists from the Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew.
Sketch of South London Gallery Garden.
Struck by the commitment of the gallery to its local community, Orozco set off to design a space that would help that relationship blossom, to ‘create something which could provide an inspiring platform for all of them,’ he says. ‘I started to think about various geometries emerging from the architecture surrounding the space and how they might be re-integrated into it as the basis of a design.’
Circles – a recurring motif favoured by Orozco – form the basis of his geometric design. Intertwining rings are delicately marked out using materials that reflect and continue the physical language of the gallery’s Victorian building (including bricks from the newly opened up rear facade) as a game of symmetry and asymmetry unfolds, creating in its wake a series of ‘spaces’ or ’rooms’. The character or purpose of each designated by the plants that inhabit it, the rise and fall of the ground beneath, and various seating options available to the public. These notional rooms will be used by other artists and, without a doubt, the neighbouring community in the coming months.
Playing on the idea of urban ruin, the garden will evolve to become rambling and overgrown, allowing the omnifarious grasses, low level creepers and fragrant plants to really grow into their own. In the meantime, working drawings and a film capturing the transformation of the garden over the past year take centre stage within the gallery itself.
Circles form the basis of Orozco’s geometric design, delicately marked out using materials that reflect and continue the physical language of the gallery’s Victorian building
A game of symmetry and asymmetry unfolds underfoot, creating a series of 'spaces' or 'rooms' which will in turn be used by other artists in the coming months
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the South London Gallery website
ADDRESS
South London Gallery
65-67 Peckham Rd
London SE5 8UH
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper editors have been doing this weekA week of jetsetting has seen the editors in Tokyo, Milan, Vienna, Miami, New York and drinking Guinness with Jonathan Anderson in London
-
The Living Places experiment: how can architecture foster future wellbeing?Research initiative Living Places Copenhagen tests ideas around internal comfort and sustainable architecture standards to push the envelope on how contemporary homes and cities can be designed with wellness at their heart
-
Turin’s Museo Egizio gets an OMA makeover for its bicentenaryThe Gallery of the Kings at Turin’s Museo Egizio has been inaugurated after being remodelled by OMA, in collaboration with Andrea Tabocchini Architecture
-
Meet Kenia Almaraz Murillo, the artist rethinking weavingKenia Almaraz Murillo draws on the new and the traditional in her exhibition 'Andean Cosmovision' at London's Waddington Custot
-
Inside Jack Whitten’s contribution to American contemporary artAs Jack Whitten exhibition ‘Speedchaser’ opens at Hauser & Wirth, London, and before a major retrospective at MoMA opens next year, we explore the American artist's impact
-
Doc'n Roll Film Festival makes its loud return to the UKThe 11th edition of the Doc'n Roll Film Festival celebrates music, culture and cinema from around the world
-
Preview the Jameel Prize exhibition, coming to London's V&A, with a focus on moving image and digital mediaThe winner of the V&A and Art Jameel’s seventh international award for contemporary art and design inspired by Islamic tradition will be showcased alongside shortlisted artists
-
Genesis Belanger is seduced by the real and the fake in LondonSculptor Genesis Belanger’s solo show, ‘In the Right Conditions We Are Indistinguishable’, is open at Pace, London
-
Francis Bacon at the National Portrait Gallery is an emotional tour de force‘Francis Bacon: Human Presence’ at the National Portrait Gallery in London puts the spotlight on Bacon's portraiture
-
Frieze Sculpture takes over Regent’s ParkTwenty-two international artists turn the English gardens into a dream-like landscape and remind us of our inextricable connection to the natural world
-
Meet Oluwole Omofemi and Bayo Akande, the founders creating a new art communityOluwole Omofemi and Bayo Akande, are behind Piece Unique, an artist agency that guides and future-proofs emerging artists’ careers
