Tweed Museum of Art : Archetypes and Armatures : Sculptures and Drawings by John V. Orth

Archetypes and Armatures

Sculpture and Drawings by John V. Orth

June 24 – November 18, 2007

For over thirty years, John Orth has quietly been creating sculpture in a variety of media, including cast iron, assemblage, welded steel, and wood. Along with his extreme sensitivity to nuances of form, gesture and space, the hallmark of Orth’s sculpture is its status and appearance as an experimental object. Yes, they have been welded, joined, and pieced together, and with a strong sense of craft, but these sculptures also look provisional and prototypical, as if the artist might at any time add, remove, or change something. The forms Orth designs and builds are grounded in the human figure, its work and motion, and its tools. The armature is not just a hidden supporting framework, but is often an integral part of the sculpture itself. Orth’s suggestion of content around identity, relationships and psychology, not to mention mythological narrative, projects his work into the territory of universal and archetypal struggles for meaning.

Background

Educated at Cornell College (Iowa), the New York Studio School and the University of Iowa, Orth’s teachers and mentors include artists as diverse as Clement Meadmore, Mercedes Matter, George McNeil, Peter Agostini, and Sylvia Schuster, who introduced Orth to Julius Schmidt, a key influence on his sculpture. Born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1952, John Orth was raised near Mason City, home to the nation’s largest concrete industry. His raw materials are the same as those used to construct the built environment -- concrete, steel, iron, wood. He skillfully employs tools and processes from industry - welding, casting, pattern- and mold-making, and works out of post-industrial studios, like a former coffee company, and an abandoned welding shop, in and around Minneapolis. Orth’s past work in various parts of industrial processes and his experiences as a medic during the Vietnam War era, have as much influenced on his work as does his considerable training as a maker of images.

Drawing

Like many sculptors, Orth’s practice is grounded in drawing, which he does daily. As an almost ritualistic artistic excercise, drawing is an end in itself. For sculptors, it is also a practical way to visualize, invent, and reinvent forms, and to plan construction and fabrication. Orth’s drawings and sculptures share many of the same figures and forms. His two- and three dimensional works also rely heavily on the creation of texture, and on the activation of their respective surfaces.

Found Objects

Each work is a solution to the technical problems inherent in sculpture – how to cast, weld, bend, or shape it, along with a question that is key to the rugged look of his work – when and how to stop making it. The found objects in Orth’s works sometimes suggest the finished forms, like the vertabrae of The Innocent Resting Upon Gabriel's Backbone, or the inner tube binding of Twin. Orth’s pieces are often left at a certain stage of a sculptural process. Models like Brother in Arms or Pattern (Endurance) might or might not later be cast in iron. Sketches and cryptic notes may or may not generate other forms and ideas.

Video

Recently, Orth’s artistic production has expanded to include video. These two-minute pieces combine poetic monologues with footage of Orth interacting with his sculpture. The genesis of the video works might be seen as the performative aspect of his work in other media. Many, among them Dervish,Hammering, and Spirit, suggest a specific function. Others, like Tuning Fork, the Wagon series, and the Flasks, are, by their very nature, functional, as well as aesthetic, objects. Like his sketchbooks and small “shop note” drawings, the videos are evidence of the artist testing and questioning his own procedures. They publicly project fragments of the running internal dialogue that is part of the creative process.

Function and Experimentation

Works like One Man One Ton Lift, Ought Two Wagon, and Die Maker’s Dream, blur the lines between function and aesthetics -- between the process of making sculpture and the sculpture itself. In a sense, all of Orth’s work, from notebook sketches, to paintings, to larger sculptures, might be seen as a projection of experimentation – a byproduct of the process of solving the technical and aesthetic problems inherent in visualizing and constructing what is first seen in his mind. It is, after all, any artist’s life experiences, along with their desire to capture them in a particular way, that drives them to create, and create uniquely. Part madcap inventor, part shop manager, part romantic poet, always the aesthetic troubleshooter, John Orth continues to experiment, building on his considerable cumulative experience, and the last piece he made.


Archetypes and Armatures Sculpture and Drawings by John V. Orth June 24 – November 18, 2007 For over thirty years, John Orth has quietly been creating sculpture in a variety of media, including cast iron, assemblage, welded steel, and wood. Along with his extreme sensitivity to nuances of form, gesture and space, the hallmark of Orth’s sculpture is its status and appearance as an experimental object. Yes, they have been welded, joined, and pieced together, and with a strong sense of craft, but these sculptures also look provisional and prototypical, as if the artist might at any time add, remove, or change something. The forms Orth designs and builds are grounded in the human figure, its work and motion, and its tools. The armature is not just a hidden supporting framework, but is often an integral part of the sculpture itself. Orth’s suggestion of content around identity, relationships and psychology, not to mention mythological narrative, projects his work into the territory of universal and archetypal struggles for meaning. Background Educated at Cornell College (Iowa), the New York Studio School and the University of Iowa, Orth’s teachers and mentors include artists as diverse as Clement Meadmore, Mercedes Matter, George McNeil, Peter Agostini, and Sylvia Schuster, who introduced Orth to Julius Schmidt, a key influence on his sculpture. Born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1952, John Orth was raised near Mason City, home to the nation’s largest concrete industry. His raw materials are the same as those used to construct the built environment -- concrete, steel, iron, wood. He skillfully employs tools and processes from industry - welding, casting, pattern- and mold-making, and works out of post-industrial studios, like a former coffee company, and an abandoned welding shop, in and around Minneapolis. Orth’s past work in various parts of industrial processes and his experiences as a medic during the Vietnam War era, have as much influenced on his work as does his considerable training as a maker of images. Drawing Like many sculptors, Orth’s practice is grounded in drawing, which he does daily. As an almost ritualistic artistic excercise, drawing is an end in itself. For sculptors, it is also a practical way to visualize, invent, and reinvent forms, and to plan construction and fabrication. Orth’s drawings and sculptures share many of the same figures and forms. His two- and three dimensional works also rely heavily on the creation of texture, and on the activation of their respective surfaces. Found Objects Each work is a solution to the technical problems inherent in sculpture – how to cast, weld, bend, or shape it, along with a question that is key to the rugged look of his work – when and how to stop making it. The found objects in Orth’s works sometimes suggest the finished forms, like the vertabrae of The Innocent Resting Upon Gabriel's Backbone, or the inner tube binding of Twin. Orth’s pieces are often left at a certain stage of a sculptural process. Models like Brother in Arms or Pattern (Endurance) might or might not later be cast in iron. Sketches and cryptic notes may or may not generate other forms and ideas. Video Recently, Orth’s artistic production has expanded to include video. These two-minute pieces combine poetic monologues with footage of Orth interacting with his sculpture. The genesis of the video works might be seen as the performative aspect of his work in other media. Many, among them Dervish,Hammering, and Spirit, suggest a specific function. Others, like Tuning Fork, the Wagon series, and the Flasks, are, by their very nature, functional, as well as aesthetic, objects. Like his sketchbooks and small “shop note” drawings, the videos are evidence of the artist testing and questioning his own procedures. They publicly project fragments of the running internal dialogue that is part of the creative process. Function and Experimentation Works like One Man One Ton Lift, Ought Two Wagon, and Die Maker’s Dream, blur the lines between function and aesthetics -- between the process of making sculpture and the sculpture itself. In a sense, all of Orth’s work, from notebook sketches, to paintings, to larger sculptures, might be seen as a projection of experimentation – a byproduct of the process of solving the technical and aesthetic problems inherent in visualizing and constructing what is first seen in his mind. It is, after all, any artist’s life experiences, along with their desire to capture them in a particular way, that drives them to create, and create uniquely. Part madcap inventor, part shop manager, part romantic poet, always the aesthetic troubleshooter, John Orth continues to experiment, building on his considerable cumulative experience, and the last piece he made. John V. Orth, Hammering, 2007 John V. Orth, Brother in Arms, 2006