EXHIBITION IMAGES | PRESS RELEASE
Orlando Estrada, Scenic Fire #1 (A Prophetic Dream),2020, Polyurethane foam, rigid foam, wood armature, coconut fiber, epoxy clay, natural clay, acrylic, glitter, treated paper, preserved charcoal, Swarovski crystals, artificial pearls, seashells, UV pigment, hardware; 26 x 29 x 12 inches
I often think about what the end of the world will look like. The apocalypse is often described spectacularly; as explosions and storms and venom and rot. I imagine it will actually be quite boring – a silent blip in the expansive history recorded in all of the scars on the Earth. The world has already ended many times before and with each end she re-emerges maybe more wise and palpably more complicated. If we are living in another end of the world, I would tend this death well, so the next world could be born even more wise, palpably more complex and more beautiful than the one I’ve known before.
The works in Scenic Fire grew out of a series of abstract, sculptural landscapes I began to make in 2018. The gestural flame motif first appeared in the works in January of 2020, just weeks before the Covid-19 pandemic upended all of our lives. The flame acts as a through line in the works and is a symbolic reference to the creation and destruction myths of people from antiquity until today. The transformative element of fire engulfs these hallucinatory landscapes – a reflection on the fiery temperature of 21st century life. I am captivated by this carnivalesque world I am lucky enough to live to see. These works celebrate the mesmerizing, fucked up, and gorgeous mess humans have made here on planet Earth.
– Orlando Estrada, New York, March, 2022
Orlando Estrada is an interdisciplinary artist based between Miami, FL and Brooklyn, NY. Through his practice he explores concepts of post naturalism, identity and the human condition. Working across sculpture, drawing, painting, and installation, Estrada analyzes societal metanarratives through the lenses of queer theory, mysticism and science fiction.
After a childhood spent in the otherworldly setting of a military base on the coastal cliffs of Puerto Rico, relocating to Miami in his teens sparked the artist’s fascination with understanding the relationship between humans and the natural world. His ongoing series of sculptural landscapes depict dreamlike terrains using an experimental language of both natural and man-made materials. Using practical construction methods, ingeniously upcycled consumer waste, and 3D printing technology – cereal boxes, broken cell phones,
artificial pearls, bone, fiber and many other unconventional art materials become power objects; elevating craft to the realm of the sacred.
Charged with both childlike naivety and deep philosophical gravity, Estrada’s talismanic works conjure up a mystic allure, telling haunting fairytales filled with imperiled beauty and frenzied optimism for the future.
Orlando Estrada’s work has been featurd in solo and group exhibitions at the Bas Fisher Invitational, Miami, FL; Grace Exhibition Space, NY, NY; American Medium, NY, NY; Marinaro Gallery, NY; Knockdown Center Queens, NY; El Museo del Barrio, NY, NY; and David Castillo Gallery, Miami, FL. Estrada is a recipient of the apexart International Artist Fellowship and the Bruce High Quality Foundation University Emerging Artist Residency. Scenic Fire marks the artist’s first exhibition with Halsey McKay Gallery.