Mexican artist Yoshua Okón’s videos blur the lines between documentary, reality, and fiction. He collaborates closely with his actors (often amateurs) to create sociological examinations that ask viewers to contemplate uncomfortable situations and circumstances. In this talk, he will focus on a select group of works produced over the last twenty years including Oracle, now on view at Colby, and Octopus, a piece made in Los Angeles in 2011. Public reception to follow in the Museum’s William D. Adams Lobby.
Yoshua Okón was born in Mexico City in 1970. In 2002 he received an MFA from UCLA with a Fulbright scholarship. His solo exhibitions include: Yoshua Okón: Collateral, MUAC, Mexico City; Yoshua Okón: In the Land of Ownership, Tokyo; Saló Island, UC Irvine, Irvine; Piovra, Kaufmann Repetto, Milan; Poulpe, Mor Charpentier, Paris; Octopus, Cornerhouse, Manchester and Hammer Museum, Los Angeles and SUBTITLE, Städtische Kunsthalle, Munich. His work is included in the collections of Tate Modern, Hammer Museum, LACMA, Colección Jumex and MUAC, among others.
