Christopher Orr
dal 18/11/2010 al 20/1/2011
Segnalato da
18/11/2010
Christopher Orr
Hauser & Wirth - Hubertus Exhibitions, Zurich
The exhibition presents new and recent works by London- based artist. With his small and meticulously detailed canvases, Orr moves from one mode of depiction to another in an ongoing exploration of the language of painting. These earlier works feature protagonists culled from popular mid-century print media, their scale and placement manipulated by the artist to create a sense of the surreal, an abstraction replete with esoteric symbolism.
Hauser & Wirth is pleased to present an
exhibition of new and recent works by London-
based artist, Christopher Orr. With his small
and meticulously detailed canvases, Orr
moves from one mode of depiction to another
in an ongoing exploration of the language of
painting.
Orr's dark and deeply curious oil paintings deploy
a spectrum of appropriated imagery ranging from
the mundane to the ethereal and form fictive
scenes that are at once familiar and unknown.
These earlier works feature protagonists culled
from popular mid-century print media, their scale
and placement manipulated by the artist to create
a sense of the surreal. In Orr's recent canvases,
the incongruous realities previously so precisely
depicted give way to a far more abstract handling
of paint, switching from naturalistic depiction to an
abstraction replete with esoteric symbolism.
Amorphous patches of colour — olives, sea
greens, tawny roses and taupes — overlap in
delicate translucent layers that at times reveal
the parched canvas beneath. The atmospheres
created are reminiscent of J. M. W. Turner or John
Constable's skies caught between sun and cloud,
with light threatened by encroaching darkness.
Christopher Orr was born in Helensburgh,
Scotland in 1967. He studied at Duncan of
Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee, Scotland
and at the Royal College of Art, London, England.
His numerous group exhibitions include ‘Tate
Triennial’, curated by Beatrix Ruf at Tate Britain,
London (2006); 'Old School', Hauser & Wirth
London (2007) and ‘Christopher Orr & J. Parker
Valentine & Rezi van Lankveld', The Front Room, Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis MO (2009). Orr
was recently the artist in residence at ArtSway from September to October 2009, culminating in a solo
show of new paintings in 2010. His works can be seen in several public collections including the Museum
of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles CA, and Museum of Modern Art, New York NY.
Press Contact: Kristina McLean
kristina@suttonpr.com
Catherine Mason
catherine@suttonpr.com
Image: Christopher Orr, Lest Darkness Falls, 2010
Oil on linen 23 x 19 cm / 9 x 7 1/2 in © Christopher Orr
Opening Friday 19 November, 6 – 8 pm
Hauser & Wirth - Hubertus Exhibitions
Albisriederstrasse 199A - Zurich