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Ruben Ochoa — Thirty four hundred and six kilos of displacement plus metal plate
Ruben Ochoa

Thirty four hundred and six kilos of displacement plus metal plate

2011

A massive concrete form anchored by an industrial steel plate, this 2011 work by Ruben Ochoa confronts the viewer with the sheer physical fact of weight, pressure, and contested ground. The title itself functions as a document, converting raw tonnage into language and forcing an awareness of the forces that shape, divide, and claim space. Ochoa has long been preoccupied with the infrastructure of borders and labor, and here that preoccupation becomes literal: concrete is not merely a material choice but a reference to construction sites, retaining walls, and the built environments that regulate movement and belonging. The work entered international visibility through its inclusion in the Future Generation Art Prize, one of the more rigorous platforms for recognizing artists whose practices carry genuine conceptual and cultural stakes. Ochoa, who was raised along the United States-Mexico border and trained at UCLA and CalArts, brings both lived experience and formal rigor to his sculptural interventions. His work does not illustrate a thesis so much as make one physically felt, demanding that the body reckon with mass and displacement in ways that purely photographic or painted work cannot achieve. For collectors, this piece represents an important document of early 2010s institutional engagement with questions of land, labor, and migration, themes that have only grown in critical urgency. Signed by the artist, the work carries strong provenance and sits at the intersection of Arte Povera-influenced materiality and a distinctly American Southwest political consciousness. It is a rare opportunity to acquire a work that functions simultaneously as sculpture, social commentary, and historical record.

Signed
Yes

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About this work

Ruben Ochoa, Thirty four hundred and six kilos of displacement plus metal plate, 2011

A massive concrete form anchored by an industrial steel plate, this 2011 work by Ruben Ochoa confronts the viewer with the sheer physical fact of weight, pressure, and contested ground. The title itself functions as a document, converting raw tonnage into language and forcing an awareness of the forces that shape, divide, and claim space. Ochoa has long been preoccupied with the infrastructure of borders and labor, and here that preoccupation becomes literal: concrete is not merely a material choice but a reference to construction sites, retaining walls, and the built environments that regulate movement and belonging. The work entered international visibility through its inclusion in the Future Generation Art Prize, one of the more rigorous platforms for recognizing artists whose practices carry genuine conceptual and cultural stakes. Ochoa, who was raised along the United States-Mexico border and trained at UCLA and CalArts, brings both lived experience and formal rigor to his sculptural interventions. His work does not illustrate a thesis so much as make one physically felt, demanding that the body reckon with mass and displacement in ways that purely photographic or painted work cannot achieve. For collectors, this piece represents an important document of early 2010s institutional engagement with questions of land, labor, and migration, themes that have only grown in critical urgency. Signed by the artist, the work carries strong provenance and sits at the intersection of Arte Povera-influenced materiality and a distinctly American Southwest political consciousness. It is a rare opportunity to acquire a work that functions simultaneously as sculpture, social commentary, and historical record.

Year
2011
Signed
Hand-signed by the artist
Seen at
Future Generation Art Prize

Related themes

Mohn Art Collective

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