Darren Orange
I am addressing the issue of natural beauty in the wake of human influence. The human struggle to control the environment has left nature scarred; however it perseveres and grows in his footsteps.
My work is an atmospheric environment created by a rich earth tones, and passionate balances. The work can allude to landscape, or it can be a simple object discarded making reference to obsolescence. The work is generally heavily worked and textured as a result of process. The build up of layers and destruction of layers makes the connection to natural growth and decline. Thus, the work is a visual history of the process. The materials incorporated are sometimes nontraditional. Tar, shellac, emulsions, and adhesives often rescued from landfills and used with oil paint to help make the physical connection to the environment.
I am most directly inspired by the surroundings of where I have lived. The homesteads of Central Washington, the fishing villages on the lower Columbia River, and the desert of the Southwest. These sublime landscapes have provided me with reference to understand the past, and to be aware of my own mark on the environment. The work is site-specific, however the message, the image, the ruins standing like sentinels marking the horizon, transcend universally.
“Orange’s intensely painted abstractions- part Anselm Kiefer and part 19th Century Romanticism- are so incandescent that at times they appear to be coming to life.”
D.K. Row - Oregonian
Darren Orange's Work at RiverSea Gallery
Click on the following thumbnails to see bigger pictures.
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