Hauser & Wirth
27 October – 15 December 2007
Hauser & Wirth is proud to present an exhibition of new paintings by CHRISTOPHER ORR. His intriguing, meticulously painted pictures are derived entirely from existent media. Images from vintage magazines, Ladybird storybooks, science textbooks, Old Master paintings, newspaper articles and slides that the artist has found are all sources of inspiration.
Orr’s earlier works, his miniaturist dark paintings borrow the Romantic landscapes and painterly styles of Caspar David Friedrich and J. M. W. Turner.
Tramping insensibly through these sublime landscapes are figures that look to have stepped straight out of the 1950s, their dress and behaviour utterly ill-suited for where they now belong.
The new works are larger and looser than their predecessors, and in many ways more confident in their handling of surreal subject matter. Orr has reduced and simplified his images, often removing the drama found in his source material, to create subjects that are at once banal and arcane.
These works possess a painterly rather than narrative tension. They test the level of detail a painting must undergo to be finished, their brush marks evident, lyrical and uneven.
Pigment has been thinly applied and at times scratched off to reveal bare canvas; ochre grounds beneath the figurative paintwork are lambent, showing underneath and between the surface brush strokes and stealing a part in the action of the scenes.
Orr continually explores the manipulation of images from one medium into another. He tests the objectivity of the scientific depictions, photographs, diagrams and paintings that he uses; their eclecticism of style and content saturate Orr’s works with the competing perspectives and mentalities of different eras, fostering an enchanted state.
The works in this exhibition sit cryptically with each other without expressing any common theme. Instead they relate to previous paintings by the artist, finding aesthetic links between uncommon subjects.
Want to see what 24 hours of creative awesomeness look like? Click here.
This news message is supported by The Creative Finder, an online platform for photographers, illustrators, designers, and art directors to promote their portfolios towards new clients and collaborators. Creatives who wish to sign up for an account can save 10% off annual fees with promo code 'designtaxi'.
