Catherine Orrok 'Pandemic Postcard 3/30/2020'
Drawer 4- "Pandemic Postcard 3/30/2020", Gouache and acrylic and collaged paper, 4"x6", 3/30/2020
Artist Statement
My painting has always been abstract, my concerns the creation of a dynamic space produced by the application of paint on a flat surface. I want to provide a perceptual experience that allows the viewer to 'enter' the environment of the painting. Color is the primary vehicle for creating this experience, but hopefully this is not just an exercise in color perception. The forms, format, paint handling, and so forth all contribute to create a little world that belongs to a particular painting. Of late I have been mining older work, not just for ideas, but literally cutting up pieces and recycling them into new work. Taking a cue from the piecing of quilt makers I'm reconstituting my work, putting the pieces together in a new way, recycling. This idea has taken on a new aspect during the life altering isolating we are experiencing during the pandemic. I have been engaged in creating a series called 'Postcards from the Studio' where each individual piece is postcard size. They are made by cutting up work made before we all had to sequester, and the environments encapsulated by these 'postcards' reflect a kind of strange space. I see them as missives dispatched to another place with portals that just might lead somewhere.
Artist Bio
Catherine Orrok was born in 1951 in Plainfield NJ. After college she moved to New York City with the idea that that was the place to be immersed in the art world. She continued with graduate work at Hunter College, and received her MFA in painting in 1982. She was represented by the Yvonne Rapp Gallery in Louisville KY until 1990. Catherine is a mother to a son born in 1987 and a daughter in 1990. The art making was put on hold while the work of motherhood and earning a living took precedence. She started a garden design business, C. Orrok/Urban Gardens in 1998, and continued with this work until closing the business in 2015. Meanwhile the art making was resuming, and she now maintains a studio in Brooklyn NY.
Drawer 4- "Pandemic Postcard 3/30/2020", Gouache and acrylic and collaged paper, 4"x6", 3/30/2020
Artist Statement
My painting has always been abstract, my concerns the creation of a dynamic space produced by the application of paint on a flat surface. I want to provide a perceptual experience that allows the viewer to 'enter' the environment of the painting. Color is the primary vehicle for creating this experience, but hopefully this is not just an exercise in color perception. The forms, format, paint handling, and so forth all contribute to create a little world that belongs to a particular painting. Of late I have been mining older work, not just for ideas, but literally cutting up pieces and recycling them into new work. Taking a cue from the piecing of quilt makers I'm reconstituting my work, putting the pieces together in a new way, recycling. This idea has taken on a new aspect during the life altering isolating we are experiencing during the pandemic. I have been engaged in creating a series called 'Postcards from the Studio' where each individual piece is postcard size. They are made by cutting up work made before we all had to sequester, and the environments encapsulated by these 'postcards' reflect a kind of strange space. I see them as missives dispatched to another place with portals that just might lead somewhere.
Artist Bio
Catherine Orrok was born in 1951 in Plainfield NJ. After college she moved to New York City with the idea that that was the place to be immersed in the art world. She continued with graduate work at Hunter College, and received her MFA in painting in 1982. She was represented by the Yvonne Rapp Gallery in Louisville KY until 1990. Catherine is a mother to a son born in 1987 and a daughter in 1990. The art making was put on hold while the work of motherhood and earning a living took precedence. She started a garden design business, C. Orrok/Urban Gardens in 1998, and continued with this work until closing the business in 2015. Meanwhile the art making was resuming, and she now maintains a studio in Brooklyn NY.
Drawer 4- "Pandemic Postcard 3/30/2020", Gouache and acrylic and collaged paper, 4"x6", 3/30/2020
Artist Statement
My painting has always been abstract, my concerns the creation of a dynamic space produced by the application of paint on a flat surface. I want to provide a perceptual experience that allows the viewer to 'enter' the environment of the painting. Color is the primary vehicle for creating this experience, but hopefully this is not just an exercise in color perception. The forms, format, paint handling, and so forth all contribute to create a little world that belongs to a particular painting. Of late I have been mining older work, not just for ideas, but literally cutting up pieces and recycling them into new work. Taking a cue from the piecing of quilt makers I'm reconstituting my work, putting the pieces together in a new way, recycling. This idea has taken on a new aspect during the life altering isolating we are experiencing during the pandemic. I have been engaged in creating a series called 'Postcards from the Studio' where each individual piece is postcard size. They are made by cutting up work made before we all had to sequester, and the environments encapsulated by these 'postcards' reflect a kind of strange space. I see them as missives dispatched to another place with portals that just might lead somewhere.
Artist Bio
Catherine Orrok was born in 1951 in Plainfield NJ. After college she moved to New York City with the idea that that was the place to be immersed in the art world. She continued with graduate work at Hunter College, and received her MFA in painting in 1982. She was represented by the Yvonne Rapp Gallery in Louisville KY until 1990. Catherine is a mother to a son born in 1987 and a daughter in 1990. The art making was put on hold while the work of motherhood and earning a living took precedence. She started a garden design business, C. Orrok/Urban Gardens in 1998, and continued with this work until closing the business in 2015. Meanwhile the art making was resuming, and she now maintains a studio in Brooklyn NY.