(click image for more details)Zenith, 2007
300cm x 120cm x 120cm
Robert Orchardson's work draws inspiration from science fiction, various utopian texts and modernist design; there is an inherent interest in looking beyond some sort of immediate situation, creating a tension between the present moment and some other place. The work conveys nostalgia for the utopian tendencies of the modernist period and focuses on the shapes and objects that defined that aesthetic. However, in contrast to the hi-tech materials usually associated with such sources, Orchardson often uses low-tech, natural and everyday materials such as wood and resin or found objects as if creating a prototype for an alternative idealism, exploring the space between the object, its intended and potential functions in the process.
'I see the work I make as being a bit like thinking of the difference between how we
perceive prototypes; objects that embody potential, a provisional position where utility can be postponed; and what happens when objects that have perhaps become broken or discarded; sitting out of context and somehow stripped of that former utility or promise, becoming objectified again in a sense that is apart from being seen merely as functional.'1
Paul Stone, 2008
1. Interview with Robert Orchardson and Jacob Cook following their joint exhibition curated by Paola Capata and Cecilia Canziani under the joint title 'Beyond', Monitor Gallery, Rome, 2005, Flash Art, April/May 2005.
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