Charco Portátil (Portable Puddle), 1994

Executed at Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam, Gabriel Orozco’s triptych depicts three scenes from the artist’s installation of the same name. After arriving at the Center in 1994 a week prior to the exhibition—with no artwork to show—Orozco arranged white plastic record sleeves on the Center’s damp roof and left them overnight. The next morning Orozco photographed the resulting composition, a whimsical and organic symphony of ethereal discs shimmering in the cold morning sun. This approach is very much in keeping with the artist’s trust in unpremeditated, chance encounters that, upon close inspection, reveal an alluring, surreal undertone.