Back in December, we've got a chance to visit the studio of Danielle Orchard in Brooklyn, just as she was working on the new body of work for her upcoming solo show at V1 gallery in Copenhagen. Back then the show didn't have the title yet, but 3PM is actually a perfect fit for the exhibition of work that aims to portray an everyday moment in an imaginary life of an everyday woman.
Not spacious, Orchard's studio is filled with different parts of artist's creative process, from an inspiring reference photograph, drawing, or newspaper cutout, to multiple canvases she is working on at the same time. Scattered through the studio were strong portrait based images in which female characters are indulging in diverse pass time activities while keeping the signature air of tristesse, lost in time and place atmosphere. Smoking a cigarette or having a cheeky glass of wine or a beer, they seem carefree and relaxed, but without showing any distinct emotions. Playing tennis, taking a bath or shower, talking on the phone, or just basking in the suggestive light, they are portrayed using bold brushstrokes of sometimes unmatching colors. This distinctive color palette is the key element that creates a certain tone which adds to the overall indifferent and hard-to-read atmosphere.
Although often nude, Orchard's subjects are stripped of classic fragility that usually goes along with such imagery, and are instead just content and empowered by their sheer existence. With clean references to 20th-century Western art, the paintings are constructed with a clever mix of collective legacies of 20th-century Western art and personal life experiences of the artist. Composed as a poetic blend of the mundane and the mysterious, they are snapshots of an imagined version of ordinary life, placed in an ambiguous time and place.
Photos and text by Sasha Bogojev
The 2nd part of the V1 gallery will present a solo debut by Grace Metzler, while gallery's sister space, Eighteen, will present a new solo show by Swedish-born Sara-Vide Ericson.
