Orrin Whalen, Hide Your Wall, 2022

Materials: Acrylic skin on wood panel

Dimensions: 12 x 12 x 2.5 inches

Artist Bio: Orrin Whalen is a British-American painter-sculptor who currently works in Los Angeles. He attended Emerson College where he earned his BFA in scenic painting and design. He has shown at Pluto Projects with his solo show “Peeled Anticipation”, The Delaware Contemporary Museum’s group show, “From Chaos to Order” and Dallas’s Maestri Gallery. His work has also been featured in Architectural Digest and Australian Vogue.

Artist Statement: How do we disguise ourselves? Keeping secrets, hiding in the closet, telling lies. Through material choice and painted textures my work explores themes of disguise and camouflage. Playing with acrylic skins that emulate the illusion of fabric - the material pretends to be something it is not. From far away a piece may look like loose formed fabric, but upon further inspection it's a lie- a deception of material. Flowy painted textures mimic shapes of traditional hunting camo. Fluidity in form and textures, by contrast, are perhaps the freedom that could be if defenses of disguise are let go.