Hungarian artist Mate Orr presents until 10th June his first UK-solo exhibition entitled Masks, Mysteries & Other Worldly Pleasures at the Fairhurst Gallery in Norwich.
Mate Orr, Dinner, 100x140cm oil and acrylic on canvas
For the occasion, the artist is showing a series of 28 recent works which give the viewer a glimpse into his rich imagination. Indeed, as I walk into the gallery space I encounter oneiric creatures in domestic settings which seem to have been borrowed from Flemish 17th century paintings. There is a certain theatricality in the worlds depicted before my eyes: hybrid man-animal figures that resemble Sobeks (the Egyptian God with a human body and a crocodile head) are next to a fictional coat of arms from an imaginary far away land. Another painting represents a rooster-headed man sharing coffee with a dinosaur-headed character. Further along in the gallery, a half-robin half-human creature debates the reason of his presence in the painting with a hare character, like children contesting the rules of make-belief games. The charm of Mate Orr’s painting lays in its ability to evoke bestiaries from the history of art, from Hieronymous Bosch’s gardens to Rabelais Gargantua’s tale, in a lighthearted fashion which blends together comic strips and medieval imagery. As a result, the paintings exhibited shift the attention from our own mortality and human limitations to a celebration of our own existence. The fantastic animals depicted in the works are an invitation to go beyond our own boundaries and to take part in the comedy of contemporary life. The painter is leading the way by posing himself as a model, as a way of transcending his status of maker to become a character, the ringmaster of his own world. Orr often appears in underwear with either a dinosaur or a deer head and, as such, seems to stage the desirability of his own body. References to popular culture in the logo of a brand or the shape of a dress, anchor the dream into something real, as if the images produced were generated while day dreaming, in a surrealist limbo between consciousness and unconsciousness.
Mate Orr, Stag with Multiple Antlers, 70x80cm oil and acrylic on canvas, 2017
Mate Orr seems to loose himself in his imaginary world and invites us to witness a play where his fantasies, desires and games are staged for the viewer to enjoy. Yet if a form of unconsciousness and even serendipity might guide the artist in the conceptualisation of his images, their executions are not left to chance, as evidenced by his skilled treatment of bright flat colours, which remind me of Japanese estampes. With such a vivid imagination underpinned by solid technical ability I am looking forward to seeing what Mate Orr does next.
Mate Orr, Still life with Orange Peel (detail) 40x80cm oil and acrylic on canvas, 2017
Mate Orr, The Incident, 60x70cm oil and acrylic on canvas, 2017