eyes

Vignette: Erik Orr

Josh Jenkins · August 15, 2017

Flipping Reality On Its Head

Writer William Goldman once opined that the difference between art and popular entertainment might be that entertainment comforts, but art should unsettle us; prompt us to ask questions. Erik Orr’s paintings immediately prompt us to wonder what we are looking at: is this a painting or a photograph? When you take into account that his subjects are primarily iconic figures in popular entertainment, music, culture, comics, and videogames, then Goldman’s proposition comes under challenge. The familiarity of celebrity faces may seem to offer accessible pop pleasures, but the presentation of the artist won’t quite allow us such a cushy perspective.

In his most recent artist’s statement, Orr describes his intentions: “My more recent works use techniques that blend traditional painting through a filter of digital technology, the works create optical illusions that will make you question your own eyes. At a time when we experience our world through screens of all sizes, these works flip that reality on its head and present paintings that look as if they are digital images from afar.”

*"Anthony Michael Hall" by Erik Orr, 2.5x3.5ft, acrylic on wood (2017)*

*"River Phoenix" by Erik Orr, 3x4ft, acrylic on wood (2017)*

Orr builds his portraits with organic vertical lines that suggest a photograph enlarged beyond what its quality should allow, yet such a question is made almost moot in the limitless digital resolution of the moment. His work straddles the divide between digital and analog both functionally and conceptually.

“In my current show, New Work, at Revelry Boutique Gallery I intend the work to showcase the culture that has influenced me to become the artist I am today.”

Orr resides in the Highlands of Louisville Kentucky with his wife and two young children. He is employed as a Graphic Designer at a marketing company and plans to continue to grow and show his work more frequently in the coming years.

New Work runs through September 6 at Revelry Boutique & Gallery.

Age: 37
Hometown: Fairfax, Virginia
Education: Associates Degree in Communication Design, Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA); BA, Art and Visual Technology with a Minor in Art History George Mason University
Website: www.erikorr.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erik_orr/

*"B-Boy" by Erik Orr, 3x3ft, acrylic on wood (2017)*

*"Twiggy" by Erik Orr, 3x4ft, acrylic on wood (2017)*

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Photography

Vignette: Kent Krugh

Josh Jenkins · April 21, 2017

“The tools of the trade, having faithfully imaged for decades, have themselves been imaged.” — Kent Krugh

"Univex Mercury I Model CC" by Kent Krugh, 13x19in, x-ray archival pigment print (2016), $400 | BUY NOW — *"Univex Mercury I Model CC" by Kent Krugh, 13x19in, x-ray archival pigment print (2016), $400 | BUY NOW*

Introspection, that ability for self-examination unique to humanity, is nothing new for an artist - It’s what lies at the core of many artists’ motivation. In these new images from photographer Kent Krugh, he goes Meta with the concept, deconstructing the camera and pondering the essential nature of his equipment instead of himself.

“This work uses x-rays to explore the microevolution of cameras and is a metaphor about the limits of evolution. While form and media may have changed, the camera is still a camera: a tool to create images by capturing photons of light. Today’s sophisticated digital cameras look and operate far differently than the first cameras of the nineteenth century, however the essentials have not changed. The photographer points a contraption with a lens towards the subject to encode its likeness on a storage medium, be it film or digital sensor. And this contraption has been manufactured in many wonderful and clever designs, the complexity usually hidden inside. While making these x-rays, I have been surprised and astonished by what I found inside the cameras. The lens, when imaged from the side, contains a multi-element train of perfectly shaped glass forms whose purpose is to collect and direct light towards the target.

"Speed Graphic" by Kent Krugh, 13x19in, x-ray archival pigment print (2016), $400 | BUY NOW — *"Speed Graphic" by Kent Krugh, 13x19in,* *x-ray archival pigment print (2016), $400 | BUY NOW*

Speciation is the process where new species can arise when populations are reproductively isolated. The can be due to random mutations and natural selection, or hybridization between closely related species. This process has been documented by many and is difficult to deny. Many insist that this is indeed evidence of evolution in action—given enough time this same process has given rise to all forms of life on earth. And many also insist that this process can indeed produce species and variation within species, but this is the limit of evolution—no one has ever seen a dog produce a non-dog. So, to close the loop—a camera is still a camera, though tremendous diversity exists.

"Keystone K-8" by Kent Krugh, 13x19in, x-ray archival pigment print (2016), $400 | BUY NOW — *"Keystone K-8" by Kent Krugh, 13x19in, x-ray archival pigment print (2016), $400 | BUY NOW*

In quite another sense, this project pays homage to the cameras I have owned, used, or handled. The tools of the trade, having faithfully imaged for decades, have themselves been imaged. The resulting images align with an inner desire to probe those unseen spaces and realms I sense exist, but do not observe with my eyes.”

Krugh’s work can be seen right now at the Cincinnati Art Galleries in the exhibit Return to Beauty: Asian Influence on Contemporary Landscape Art, March 3l April 22, and later this year at the Center for Fine Art Photography, Ft. Collins, Colorado in Black & White, which will run July 7-August 19.

In 2016, he was a part of, Inside the Gate, Museo de Artes Plásticas Eduardo Sívori, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio
Age: 61
Education: MS, Radiological Sciences, University of Cincinnati, 1978 BA, Physics, Ohio Northern University, 1977
Gallery Representation: Gallery on Wade, Toronto, Ontario; Costello-Childs Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ; Gallery 708, Cincinnati, OH
Website: http://www.kentkrugh.com

"Nikon D300" by Kent Krugh, 13x19in, x-ray archival pigment print (2016), $400 | BUY NOW — *"Nikon D300" by Kent Krugh, 13x19in, x-ray archival pigment print (2016), $400 | BUY NOW*

"Polaroid 440" by Kent Krugh, 13x19in, x-ray archival pigment print (2016), $400 | BUY NOW — *"Polaroid 440" by Kent Krugh, 13x19in, x-ray archival pigment print (2016), $400 | BUY NOW*

"Mamiyaflex C2" by Kent Krugh, 13x19in, x-ray archival pigment print (2016), $400 | BUY NOW — "*Mamiyaflex C2" by Kent Krugh, 13x19in, x-ray archival pigment print (2016), $400 | BUY NOW*