ORLAN

Refiguration Self Hybridation Pre-Columbian and African Series

September 19 - October 18, 2006

Refiguration / Self-Hybridization Pre-Columbian Nº32, 1998, Cibachrome, 63.5 x 42.5 in (161.3 x 108 cm)

Refiguration / Self-Hybridization Pre-Columbian Nº18, 1998, Cibachrome, 63.5 x 42.5 in (161.3 x 108 cm)

Refiguration / Self-Hybridization PreNº4-Columbian , 1998, Cibachrome, 40 x 28 in (101.6 x 71.1 cm)

 

Refiguration / Self-Hybridization Pre-Columbian Nº38, 1998, Cibachrome, 63.5 x 42.5 in (161.3 x 108 cm)

Refiguration / Self-Hybridization Pre-Columbian Nº8, 1998, Cibachrome, 63.5 x 42.5 in (161.3 x 108 cm)

Refiguration / Self-Hybridization Pre-Columbian Nº17b, 1998, Cibachrome, 63.5 x 42.5 in (161.3 x 108 cm)

Refiguration / Self-Hybridization Pre-Columbian Nº13, 1998, Cibachrome, 63.5 x 42.5 in (161.3 x 108 cm)

Refiguration / Self-Hybridization Pre-Columbian Nº5, 1998, Cibachrome, 63.5 x 42.5 in (161.3 x 108 cm)

Refiguration / Self-Hybridization Pre-Columbian Nº15, 1998, Cibachrome, 63.5 x 42.5 in (161.3 x 108 cm)

Refiguration / Self-Hybridization Pre-Columbian Nº27, 1998, Cibachrome, 63.5 x 42.5 in (161.3 x 108 cm)

Refiguration / Self-Hybridization Pre-Columbian Nº23, 1998, Cibachrome, 63.5 x 42.5 in (161.3 x 108 cm)

Refiguration / Self-Hybridization Pre-Columbian Nº28, 1998, Cibachrome, 63.5 x 42.5 in (161.3 x 108 cm)

Refiguration / Self-Hybridization Pre-Columbian Nº34, 1998, Cibachrome, 63.5 x 42.5 in (161.3 x 108 cm)

Refiguration / Self-Hybridization Pre-Columbian Nº34, 1998, Cibachrome, 63.5 x 42.5 in (161.3 x 108 cm)

Baoule Statuette with Two Breast on the Head from Ivory Coast and 

Body of Euro-Forezian Laughing Women with Temporal Lumps, 2000, Resin Molding on a Transparent Plexiglas Plinth, 75 x 22 in (190.5 x 55.9 cm)

Stux Gallery presents Orlan: Digital Photographs and Sculptures, Refiguration / Self-Hybridization:

The Pre-Columbian and African Series, on view through October 15. This will be Orlan’s first solo

exhibition in New York in ten years and the artist’s first exhibition with Stux Gallery.

The exhibition will consist of self-portrait photographs from Orlan’s Self-Hybridization: Pre-Columbian

series, works that focus on the merging of histories, past and present, cultural identity and ideal forms of

beauty. Orlan will, as she has in the past, rely on the advances of technology to assist her in combining

her own constructed image with those of Pre-Columbian icons representing the standards of ideal beauty

from non-Western cultures. Also on display will be two life size resin sculptures from the artist’s

African Self-Hybridization series.

In these photographs and sculptures, Orlan continues to question the social and cultural pressures exerted

on the body and its representation in the media. Orlan has created in these works a new image, literally

combining Pre-Columbian and African icons with her own image; the resulting hybridizations create a

complex narrative that confuses distinctions between time and place, real and unreal. She has given

herself a new image in order to produce new images: the Self-Hybridizations. The works contain

evidence of past tribal rites and rituals associated with beautification that, in conjunction with Orlan’s

own modifications via cosmetic plastic surgery, comment on prominent issues in recent history such as

collective identity, tragedy, and exclusivity. The Self-Hybridations also act as portraits of a potential

future humanity, in which the interbreeding between human beings from various origins give birth to

new bodies, with nomadic and mutant identities.

Orlan’s treatment of her own image is enhanced by the introduction of issues of “self” and “other,”

adding to the layering of the artwork. The overwhelming collection of “faces” in combination with

Orlan’s already hybridized face, offers insight into the complexities of an artist who is attempting to

create a new “self.” Orlan’s work, which has occupied the forms of installation, photography, video,

performance and sculpture, references the artist’s surgical performances, from 1990 to 1993, where she

used plastic surgery to create artworks that established new identities.