Her works often portray female nudes in a more abstract manner, in multi-perspectival Analytic Cubist style or abbreviated otherwise into solid contours and saturated colors. As she tackles depiction plane by plane, or each abstract part that she sculpts with thick impasto, Orchard is exploring the female corporeal representation. While the concept of female nude finds itself deeply ingrained in art history as a muse and more recently being established as a subject of study, Orchard adds depth by infusing her own experiences as a female artist, having trained, posed, and even taught in life drawing classes. By using popular motifs, Orchard eliminates the viewers’ guesswork in discerning the subject, directing their attention to her mode of expression instead. As the backgrounds or accompanying objects echo the body language of the women, depicted with muted emotions, the artist invites the viewers to empathize and contemplate on the interiority of the models. For her first solo exhibition in France at Perrotin Paris, Danielle Orchard has produced a new body of work, including fourteen paintings and ten charcoals on paper, depicting women in repose, close ups of intimated moments, repeatedly asking quiet questions about viewership, voyeurism and ownership of the female form. The female characters within Orchard’s paintings are a combination of art historical reference, self-invention and self-portraiture, or as the artist states, “invented muses and self-proxies”.
“The nudity is meant to evoke a sense of timelessness. These figures aren’t attached to any era. That freedom—or maybe suspension is a better word—relates to my interest in figurative sculpture.”
The exhibition takes place at Perrotin, Paris from September, 3rd until October, 8th 2022.
