Following meticulous and self-created methodologies, Gabriel de la Mora researches, collects, classifies, catalogs, and manipulates remarkably diverse materials. These materials are familiar, sourced from quotidian objects—his ongoing series The weight of thought, for example, repurposes leather and rubber shoe soles. de la Mora’s materials of choice are those often considered waste or residue: collected artifacts and antiques, obsolete mechanical and utilitarian objects, parts, corporeal matter, architectural scrap. Through these, the artist explores finitude and permanence, the passing of time, it’s bracketing, and the transformation of matter and energy alike. The formal outcome of these processes plays with pre-established notions of drawing, painting, and sculpture. Characterized by their visual potency, the resulting bodies of work complicate theoretical and historical art terms (the ready-made, the objet-trouvé, the monochrome, the peinture en plein air, among others). As such, they establish an ironic spin on the abstract and minimalist aesthetics and inquire about the ever-changing notion of painting as a phenomenon. Can painting originate itself with the passing of time and without any intervention from the artist’s hand? This apparent negation of painting and other ontological musings formulated by de la Mora’s oeuvre is extended to artistic practice at large: When is an artwork born and when does it reach its conclusion? What is the role of the artist within the creative act? Coupled with equally methodical and strict processes, Gabriel de la Mora has constituted a practice in which the role of the artist is not to create nor to destroy, but to transform.
Gabriel de la Mora was born on September 23, 1968 in Mexico City, where he lives and works. He earned an MFA in Painting (2001-03) from Pratt Institute, NY and a BFA in Architecture (1987-91) from Universidad Anáhuac del Norte, Mexico City. He has been a Fulbright García-Robles grant recipient, a grantee from the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation, and a member of the National System of Creators-FONCA (2013-15), Mexico.
His work is part of public and private collections in Mexico and abroad, among them: Fundación/Colección JUMEX, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Internacional Rufino Tamayo, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo-MUAC, and Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City; Museo Amparo, Puebla, Mexico; Museum of Contemporary Art-MOCA, Los Angeles, CA; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; El Museo del Barrio, NYC, NY; Albright-Knox, Buffalo, NY; Perez Art Museum, Miami, FL; Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY; Centro Gallego de Arte Contemporáneo, Santiago de Compostela; Colección Banco de la República and Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá, Bogotá; Museo de Arte Latinoamericano-MALBA, Buenos Aires, M+ Hong Kong, China.
He is represented by PROYECTOS MONCLOVA (Mexico City),PERROTIN (Paris, New York, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong), Sicardi Ayers Bacino (Houston) and Simões de Assis (Curitiba, Brazil)
GABRIEL DE LA MORA @ ART BASEL SWITZERLAND BOOTH L24, HALL 2.1 / PERROTIN
June 16 – 22, 2025
GABRIEL DE LA MORA: LA PETITE MORT
Gabriel de la Mora: La Petite Mort is a thematic survey of the artist’s practice over the past 20 years. Gabriel de la Mora (Mexico City, 1968) is known for his transformation of materials through seemingly alchemic processes to create exquisite objects and alluring surfaces. Those processes can be highly crafted, such as the careful dissection and mounting of butterfly wings or human hair set into geometric compositions, or the painstaking reclamation of historic, weathered ceilings onto canvas. They may equally be the result of elemental forces of fire or water, that react with and erode paintings, prints and papers to the edge of degradation.
Curated by Tobias Ostrander, La Petite Mort engages with the attraction of surfaces of De la Mora’s works and looks beyond them to the unconscious drives and desires that have been a consistent theme in the artist’s practice. The title La Petite Mort, intimates two preoccupations–that of death itself, and that of ecstatic sexual pleasure, “the little death” being synonymous for the orgasm in French. The exhibition follows these and the related senses of loss and abandonment that run through De la Mora’s practice, through six nuclei of works that engage with the body; erasure; heat; the edge of desire; touch; and the pleasure of the viewer.
After its presentation at the Jumex Museum, the exhibition will be presented at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, MARCO.
The exhibition is organized by Museo Jumex and MARCO, Monterrey and accompanied by a new publication in collaboration with RM.
Guest Curator: Tobias Ostrander
Coordinated at the Museo Jumex by Carolina Estrada García, Curatorial Assistant.
Perrotin Matignon 8
APRIL 10 – JULY 26, 2025
Jean-Marie Appriou, Daniel Arsham, Anna-Eva Bergman, Sophie Calle, Maurizio Cattelan, Lynn Chadwick, Julian Charrière, Johan Creten, Gabriel de la Mora, Jens Fänge, Bernard Frize, Laurent Grasso, Hans Hartung, Izumi Kato, Bharti Kher, Klara Kristalova, Georges Mathieu, Jean-Michel Othoniel, Paola Pivi, Jesús Rafael Soto, Pierre Soulages, Xavier Veilhan, Bernar Venet, Emma Webster, Lee Bae.
https://leaflet.perrotin.com/view/1023/perrotin-matignon
The butterfly wings used in this new Lepidoptera series come from butterflies raised in butterfly farms in Peru, Indonesia and Madagascar, dying naturally when released, they are collected by local communities*
Perrotin is pleased to return to Art Dubai with a special presentation of works by Kuwaiti artist Monira Al Qadiri alongside a selection of works by artists from our roster: Jean-Marie Appriou, Daniel Arsham, Lynn Chadwick, Julian Charrière, Gabriel de la Mora, Mathilde Denize, Laurent Grasso, Hans Hartung, Thilo Heinzmann, Gregor Hildebrandt, JR, Susumu Kamijo, Lee Bae, Takashi Murakami, Jean-Michel Othoniel, Paola Pivi, Sigrid Sandström, Shim Moon-Seup, Josh Sperling and Xavier Veilhan.
GABRIEL DE LA MORA
SP – ARTE BOOTH E7- SIMÕES DE ASSIS
SÃO PAULO
02.04.2025 – 06.04.2025
Perrotin is pleased to participate in Dallas Art Fair, marking our ten years of collaboration, with a selection of recent works by artists from the gallery’s roster: Nina Chanel Abney, Young-Il Ahn, Monira Al Qadiri, Jean-Marie Appriou, Iván Argote, Daniel Arsham, Genesis Belanger, Sophie Calle, Lynn Chadwick, Nick Doyle, Nancy Graves, Vivian Greven, Charles Hascoët, John Henderson, Leslie Hewitt, Nikki Maloof, Gabriel de la Mora, Takashi Murakami, Jean-Michel Othoniel, Paola Pivi, Gabriel Rico, Shim Moon-Seup, Emily Mae Smith, Josh Sperling, Kathia St. Hilaire, and Julia von Eichel.
PERROTIN MATIGNON
Guo Pei (b. 1967), China’s first couture artist, combines Chinese cultural heritage with international elements and artistic expression. Guo’s astonishing runway collections have impressed fashion and art audiences alike for almost 30 years. Presenting the first major exhibition of Guo’s work produced in China, M+ will showcase Guo’s key collections and early designs, highlighting her unique career connecting China and the rest of the world and the cultural symbols created through her sophisticated and visually dazzling practice. Working with the couturier and her studio, the exhibition presents a selection of garments shown to audiences in the region for the first time, creating a layered dialogue with the M+ Collections around visual imagination and workmanship. The exhibition foregrounds Guo Pei’s unique artistic style that resonates with imperial Chinese dress etiquette, European royal fashion, architecture, and the botanical world.
