Burros muertos y dedos perdidos [Dead Donkeys and Lost Toes] (2025)
Artist’s book. Printed on Hahnemühle 100g rice paper
30,5 x 22,5 cm (closed); 61 x 84 cm (open)
BA Collection
Registration No.: 2025.616.1
Ordóñez’s artwork is focused on exploring working spaces and bodies, addressing the relationship between production, repetition and transformation using different materials. He produced different pieces for this project which start from the symbolic figure of the donkey, toes lost under metal-tipped work boots, the rope or the human being that travels using public transport. The donkey –also the alter ego of the human being in the current production system – emerges as a symbol of resistance and sacrifice, and also of stubbornness and marginalization. Its death evokes abandonment, enforced futility, the disappearance of what had been essential at some time. The fragility of the presence and the symbolic load are explored in the repeated image, in its material insistence.
Joey Ordóñez (El Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz, 1985) lives and works in Bilbao. His practice focuses on exploring spaces and bodies at work, addressing the relationship between production, consumption, and transformation through diverse materials. He graduated in Art from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and the University of Monterrey in Mexico. He later completed a Master’s in Ceramics: Art and Function at UPV/EHU, where he delved into material processes and experimentation with ceramics as a plastic language. In 2022, he participated in JAI at Tabakalera in Donostia, expanding his research on materiality and production processes. He has exhibited his work in spaces such as the International Contemporary Ceramics Festival CERCO, the General Assemblies of Bizkaia, and Azkuna Zentroa. In 2023, he presented Toca, pon at the Montehermoso Cultural Center, and in 2024, he participated in the group exhibition Adentro/Afuera IV at EL CHICO Gallery.