The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 23, 2025

Tool Bones I-VI

2013

Damián Ortega

(Mexican, b. 1967)
Mexico, 21st century
plaster
Purchased with funds donated by Scott Mueller 2013.90
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Each component of this artwork contains tools covered in fabric and white plaster.

Description

Damián Ortega's Tool Bones I-VI comprises six objects. Each component is created with interlaced tools that are covered in fabric and white plaster, resulting in forms that resemble bones. Through this process, Ortega reconfigures ordinary items into organic-abstract objects that evoke questions of mortality and human existence.
  • 2013 - purchased from the artist, Damián Ortega, by Cleveland Museum of Art
  • "2013 Acquisitions." Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 54, no. 2 (March/April 2014): 12-27. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 26-27 archive.org
  • {{cite web|title=Tool Bones I-VI|url=false|author=Damián Ortega|year=2013|access-date=23 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2013.90