Damián Ortega’s work explores specific economic, aesthetic, and cultural situations, with particular attention to how regional culture affects commodity consumption. He began his career as a political cartoonist and his art demonstrates the intellectual rigour and sense of playfulness often associated with his previous occupation. He first came to wider attention with Cosmic Thing at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003, consisting of a Volkswagen Beetle dismantled and suspended from the ceiling, an ironic deconstruction of a cult object in Mexican consumer culture.