Return homeThe complex distortions and entanglements that mark Fernando Orellana’s subjects reveal a sort of psychological portraiture that is at times funny, irreverent and wildly animated. Characters emerge from the surface through a process the artist describes as intuitive and automatic, based upon his observations of passersby, companions at a restaurant, faces in a crowd. In the series The Governors, and its companion, Another King, Orellana superimposes brightly colored, labyrinthine masks over digital prints of historic, suited gentlemen. Although based upon modern Americans, these drawings echo depictions by earlier Americans – the Maya – whose fantastical renderings of gods and beasts continue to enchant and confound.
2017
ink and pastel pencil on paper.