John Orth's "The Golden Age of Souvenirs"

 

Wayfarers is ever so proud to present an exhibition by our first Artist in Residence and our very dear friend, John Orth. 

The installation John Orth has developed as the culmination of his residency at Wayfarers focuses on the idea that the objects we collect reflect and sometimes inform our emotional lives. The Golden Age of Souvenirs is inspired by four miniature clay figures and a pipe cleaner peacock that occupied a shelf beside Orth's bed for the last couple years. The figures depict the servant class of British Colonial India. In their current state, the brittle figures are missing limbs and one his head, but they still hold the objects of their service: a gentleman's hat, a fan, a pack of cigarettes, a broom, a cluster of oranges. The peacock, a symbol of hopefulness and regality, is faded to a ghostly white. Orth expands the narrative of these characters and the objects that inform them, by realizing them in the large, all the while wringing from them the emotions they have absorbed as unwitting observers of his life over the last few years. The installation includes carved composite wood, silk screened prints, and cast plaster citrus. 

John Orth lives and works in Gainesville, Florida, where he is the director of F.L.A. Gallery and a member of the band Holopaw. Over the last decade he has shown repeatedly with Cinders Gallery. His art practice includes drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, video, and a brief stint in a traveling circus. Please follow him at Rewildingfla on Instagram.