An Interview with Neill Orje
January 13, 2010
When you ask Neill Orje what he does for a living, he’ll probably never tell you that he spends most of his waking hours behind a paintbrush. Always soft spoken, the world seems to stop and listen to get a rare chance to hear him speak. Born and raised in Southern California, Orje built his style around surrealist ideals and a collection of personal experiences. While completing his Art degree at San Fransisco State, Orje was sharing gallery space with Richard Deacon and Gerhard Richter at the de Young Museum.
After making it back to his hometown of San Diego for a quick stay, Orje relocated to Los Angeles to join the Artist in Residency Program at Raid Projects, a renown exhibition and curatorial organization located east of downtown LA; at the Brewery district. I was able to connect with Neill and field him a few questions about some the work he’s been up to.
Photo: Chaz Cruz
More info: Neill Orje
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You’ve recently relocated to Los Angeles and you’re currently one of the resident artists at LA’s Raid Projects. How is it going?
I do not know what to make of Raid as of yet. I ‘ve only been here for less than two months with most of my time being spent working on a painting that will take me well into the New Year to complete. I participated in a couple of shows here in LA thanks to Raid Projects under the guise of being anonymous. With Raid being headed by new directors, the monthly shows that have been curated usually involve interesting work from several different artists.
The most recent show, for the month of December, is a response to Miami’s Art Basel as it is titled, (if L.A. changed it’s name to Miami, we’d be there) Pink Flamingo Art Fair. Under one roof, there were four curated shows by four Los Angeles galleries, none of whom I have met.
Before making the move out of San Diego, what made you choose LA? Is the traffic as bad as they say it is?
The traffic at times can be bad during rush hours, but I tend to avoid driving altogether. Los Angeles is a hub for art enthusiasts around. Creativity flourishes in every crack and crevice and in every corner you turn in the City of Angels.
Your paintings often portray a surrealist perception of the familiar in a geometric, depth deceiving point of view. What drives you in this direction? Describe these places.
Rooted in personal experience, these paintings operate between autobiography and fantasy while in response to art historical canons through “western” lenses. I play with fiction and non-fiction as a means for expressing personal messages of sentiment, opting for a purely visual idiom. Sometimes using childhood memories and places of where I have lived as starting points. Through various media and varying modes of pictorial structure, I combine, recombine and invent new environments. I select and sequence materials, images and themes to create new associations in a systemic attempt to orchestrate color in an irritating quagmire of contradictions beneath the vendor of anonymity.
Who were some of your earlier inspirations that helped shape your artistic outlook?
Mike Tyson and Nintendo.
Whose work by a contemporary artist(s) do you always look forward to seeing?
Henry Darger, Agnes Martin, and Bas Jan Ader.
What was the first exhibition opening that you attended that left a creative impact on you as an artist? Who’s show was it?
I have only attended two openings thus far. Two Nights Of Performances by Los Angels-based artist, John Williams (held at the former Sister Gallery in Chinatown) and Untitled Hardcore Zombie Project by artist Bruce La Bruce at Peres Projects in Culver City. Both left me in awe.
Budget cuts within the educational system have resulted in the cancellation of art programs across the country. How important is Art within the grade-school curriculum?
It’s essential that art be taught in grade school. Art is another way of thinking and using the brain. It contributes to developing creativity by learning components that increase knowledge, comprehension, analysis and synthesis. It is truly unfortunate that funding for art programs is being cut. Children need outlets for creativity.
Some of your work explores typographical techniques. How do you feel about the digital methods of typography? What are the significances you hold in brushing type versus going digital?
Any utterance has meaning. It has it by virtue of its relation to other utterances. To single out any one word, as a discrete “text” is merely to pull a single thread apart from the “textile” within which it has its semantic places. To understand something is to spend time with it.
What was the inspiration behind your Untitled Series of 2009? Are the compositions chronologically and/or chromatically codependent on each other?
The compositions are indeed chronologically and chromatically codependent on each other. Each line is dependent on the sum of its parts. A work only needs to be interesting. It isn’t necessary for a work to have a lot of things to look at, to compare, to analyze one by one, to contemplate. The pattern within ones mind corresponds to the existential fact of the object.
The hyper-real surface takes on a kind of nature. Each hue has a specific “note”; much in the same way a musician takes note of sound that eventually gets orchestrated to make a song.
You were involved in a public dispute with the San Francisco Parks and Recreation Department over an installation that you did for Brooks Park in San Francisco. Did the city eventually remove your sculpture? Where is it now?
The city had removed the sculpture with a crane and transported it to the house of the person that owns the sculpture — which is in close proximity to where the sculpture was installed.
I want to see your work. What shows will you be participating in within the next few months? Who are some of your upcoming collaborators?
I am an island unto myself. I just recently talked to a man through Raid Projects who wants to facilitate my work out here in Los Angeles. I don’t know when nor where this will happen. I am working on a painting that deals a lot with memory, particularly a childhood memory that is in some way or another filtered using a highly coded visual language that introduces a figure into what is primarily geometric abstraction.
Not having a normal sleeping schedule is kind of taking a toll, as I love seeing daylight every once in a while. As of late, my day usually starts when everyone is asleep. [I'm] up all night so I try not to sleep all day.
On my desk: Free & Easy “Dad’s Style” featuring Eric Clapton
January 13, 2010
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January 10, 2010
The boom in branded magazines ~ Financial Times
Detour: San Diego, CA ~ Dwell
Instant Decor Gratification ~ House Industries
Skate and Create: Part 2 Perseverance (The Art of Falling Down) ~ WKEntertainment
Jeffrey Deitch named Director of Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art ~ NY Mag
Modern Tapestry, Brilliant Lighting, and Mid-Century Furniture to Lust After ~ NY Mag
Abe Vigoda, Best Coast and Zola Jesus at the Soda Bar. San Diego, CA
January 9, 2010
Moments before making my way to El Cajon Boulevard, I was at O’Brien’s local beer night, putting down a pint Alpine Brewing’s, Pure Hoppiness. The hoptacular ale made the perfect segue to enjoy the most important show in America (click image above). The night’s bill at the Soda Bar was presented by Art Fag Recordings, and included a lineup with Abe Vigoda and Best Coast along with Wisconsin’s own, Zola Jesus.
Zola Jesus opened the show with an amazing set. I wished that it was a little darker in the venue to make it easier to soak-in the Zola Jesus experience. I’m still kicking myself in the head for not taking the chance to snap photos. Her latest album, The Spoils is out now via Sacred Bones. A future classic. Go buy that shit, homeboy.
El Camino Super Cocina Mexicana, Little Italy. Till next time Steph
January 8, 2010
To continue good-bye week, last Wednesday, a few of us headed out to the new El Camino in Little Italy. It was Steph Walker’s last night in San Diego — and before making it back to Brooklyn, we decided get together and grab a few piña coladas.
The new El Camino in Little Italy is much bigger than its South Park location. Formerly, the Airport Lounge, the interior of El Camino reveals very little, if anything, of the preexisting space. There were still a few pieces that were coming together in the patio, but its pretty much finished. This will definitely be a great spot to swing by before stumbling over to the Casbah.
related links: HollisBC, Igloo Shop, Electra Bikes, Devil Beast
Julius Shulman’s Visual Acoustics was awesome. Watch it.
January 8, 2010
Don’t miss out. Visual Acoustics is playing for limited time at the Ken Cinema in San Diego.
Crime Desire at the Che Cafe. Till next time Arik
January 8, 2010
Sunday was Arik’s last night in San Diego before heading back to Japan and coincidentally, his favorite band, Crime Desire, was playing the Che Cafe. Accompanied by Vince and Daiki, we all headed to the Che and enjoyed the show over a few Blue Sky Colas. A good time, indeed. Apologies for the crummy photo.
I like these images: 013
January 8, 2010
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January 5, 2010
Featured Artist: Best Coast ~ Nike Women
The Santa Fe Super Chief ~ A Continuous Lean
It’s not the rats you need to worry about ~ Seth Godin
2010: Crunch time for Romania’s ‘New Wave’ ~ Monocle
Pennsylvania Objects ~ Design is People
I like these images: 012
January 5, 2010
