Sombras

Sombras explores the contradictions found in the humid haze between public and private spaces. Although the cultural consciousness imagines Florida as palm trees and lush beaches, reality is zoned with more parking lots than paradise. The greater landscape has been widely developed from its original ecology into hard surfaces and uniformly placed palm trees. The vast expanse of fences and pavement are a blank canvas on which landscaped foliage paints an unreliable self-portrait.
The paintings, sculptures, and photographs in this series replicate quiet scenes from the tropical suburban sprawl of Miami, Florida. Visiting the neighborhoods of his childhood, Orozco traces and photographs the swaying, shifting, and mundane shadows found from the street. Bringing the background into the foreground, he combines illustrations and optical illusions to pull the natural out of the constructed, and vice versa. This process of re-encoding captures a distinct ambiguity true to his experience of place: both real and imagined, shadows outline both presence and absence on the spaces they mark.
Palm Projection III
Acrylic on canvas | 34" x 41.5" x .75" | 2024
Palm Projection II
Acrylic on canvas | 48" x 43.5" x .75" | 2023
Palm Projection
Acrylic and graphite on canvas | 36" x 41.5" x .75" | 2022
Palm Projection IV
Acrylic on wood | 15" x 28.75" x .75" | 2024
Shadow Study, Miami, FL, May 25
Cut paper, risograph | 30" x 67" | 2024
Palm Plantation Shadows
Cut inkjet on heavyweight tyvek paper, acrylic | 71” x 41” x 24” | 2023
Breezeblock Book
Digital print, risograph on cut paper | 8” x 16” | 2024
Ficus Fence
Cut inkjet on heavyweight paper, fan | 71” x 41” x .5” | 2023
Observed Shadows
Risograph print | 16" x 20" | 2024
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