← PAINTINGS

A highlight from the Estate of Eric Orr is a series of nine related paintings from c. 1990. These artworks were produced for a solo exhibition at the Anders Tornberg Gallery in Sweden, and accompanied the release of Orr’s editioned artist’s book, Zero Mass.

Orr used the term ‘Zero Mass’ to describe the concept of the void in his sculptures and installations. Though all were created at roughly the same period, the artworks in this series embody the different modes through which Orr engaged with painting as a sculptural, spiritual, and spatial practice.

The six color-field paintings are distinguished from Orr’s other oil-based paintings by their powerful palette of somber tones. Through subtle variations in color, these paintings transpose Orr’s perceptual experimentations with light in space onto the canvas’ two-dimensional picture plane. Subtle, abstract shapes begin to emerge from out of the paintings’ richly dark surface, akin to the way the eyes adjust to perceive faint forms within the dimly lighted voids of Orr’s immersive environments.

Three of the pieces represent Orr’s approach to painting-as-object. These works use elemental mediums to create hard-edged, geometric compositions insistent in their materiality.