October 5th - Richard Orjis

This week Richard Orjis talked to us about his art practice which I really enjoyed because he specialised in photography. He mentioned in the lecture that he was drawn to fashion photography which is obvious as soon as you look at his work. Beauty is one of his main themes which relates really well to fashion, he uses bright vivid colours to create a glamorous effect or even to just emphasis the beauty that already exists in the objects he uses. Nature is also a motif in his work. With this he actually plays with beauty, his images juxtapose looking pretty and innocent while also looking dark and dangerous. Lastly he uses a lot of symbolism, these 3 key words tie together really nicely when you're looking at his work.

Basically he creates worlds for himself based on nature, influenced by the botanical. He has stated that "nature can be seen as beautiful and pure, and intrinsically good, but also dangerous and destructive, a spectacle of the devourers and the devoured" (www.thephysicsroom.org.nz/gallery/2008/orjis/) which talks about showing the two sides to nature's aesthetic and more symbolically about anxieties around sex and death. Pitcher plants and orchids appear to repeat as phallic and vulval forms, giving the works a humanistic and erotic quality. Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest is so appropriate because of flowers attracting pollinators, the prettiest flower will get pollinated versus our human need to attract mates. Orjis also mentioned in the lecture how flowers can be safe and beautiful but can represent sex and decay, like the strange thing about lovers giving each other flowers then having to watch them die.

The beauty of the flowers draws the viewer closer, and also closer to the mysterious, pitch black void. In a way it is quite cut throat, as if the flowers are enticing you in like prey. Beauty as a device.

The figures in his works are covered in mud or soot or coal as if blurring the line between nature and man. They stare out at the camera surrounded by brightly coloured flowers, emerging from the darkness. They appear as if they are part of some type of ritual, symbolically ceremonial which actually enters the work into a religious state which Orjis actually chooses to focus on aswell. What I really like about these images with the figures in them though are the technical quality. They are very complex in construction, he actually photoshops things like the orchids so they ironically don't become natural but rather resemble humanity like the human face or a closer detail. This could also be a reference to genetic mutation. I also like how he tends to alter the eyes of the subjects by exaggerating the whites of the eyes and the irises, it gives them an otherworldly presence and in a way preserves them. Obviously the most successful aspects technically would be the composition and the actual scale of the pieces, and the overall aesthetic.

Orjis really interested me with the materials he uses, he did a series of portraits drawn with mud. Again it's about being natural but they present beauty in unexpected materials. He told us in his lecture that he really liked Salvador Dali, I understand this because he works alot with opposites but in my opinion the word that springs to mind when I think about Dali is surreal rather than fantasy which is what I think of with Orjis.

I don't know who is responsible for this image but I found it awhile ago, it reminds me of Orjis' work in that it twists ideology surrounding nature and the human body. Like Orjis' Floros (top photo) it looks like some kind of tribute to a god of nature. Or it could just be from someone messing around on photoshop...