James Orvik

January 23 – March 28, 2025

Opening reception Thursday, January 23 from 6 to 8 pm

Artist Statement

I never seem to take a walk without contemplating what it would take to paint what I’m seeing. I depend on nature to compose itself, but it doesn’t always work out that way. When it does, I’m filled with gratitude. But that’s only the beginning. Although nature can be generous, it is also fugitive; here now then gone. So there’s a reason my work sometimes looks photographic, because it is. Photographs are an approximation of what nature presents, and a painting using those photographs is yet a further approximation, one in which fugitive nature has been reluctantly pinned down. My goal in the work
you see here is for you to feel as though you were there with me and to enjoy it as much as I did, at that moment, on that day.

I also have a strong impulse toward invention and experimentation, displayed here in a series of paintings exploiting a technique I call “botanical decollage”. In this technique, botanical material is first collaged on to the surface as a resist and finally decollaged to reveal whatever was originally underpainted but with the unique botanical contours intact. What is common to both kinds of art I present here is that nature is preserved. But as with any art form, they also express the artist’s methods and limitations. I’m grateful that “nature” lets me borrow a little bit of itself from time to time.

Autumn Snow Hurricane Gulch

Autumn Snow Hurricane Gulch, 2005
Acrylic on Polyfiber
24″ x 36″

$900

Blue Vase and Fuchsias, 2009

Blue Vase and Fuchsias, 2009
Acrylic on Paper
28″ x 20″

$1,000

Blue vase and poppies

Blue Vase and Poppies, 2023
Acrylic on Paper
24″ x 18″

$900

Chanterelle Overlook

Chanterelle Overlook, 2024
Acrylic on Polyfiber
36″ x 24″

$1,000

Clayton Beach Madrone

Clayton Beach Madrone, 2024
Acrylic on Polyfiber
24″ x 17.5″

$700

Fall Blueberries

Fall Blueberries, 2024
Acrylic on Polyfiber
18.25″ x 29.5″

$900

Fuchsia, 2001

Fuchsia, 2001
Acrylic on Paper
12.5″ x 10″

$400

Glacial Scour

Glacial Scour, 2005
Acrylic on Polyfiber
36″ x 24″

$1,000

Hoag’s Pond Double Tryptic

Hoag’s Pond Double Tryptic, 2018
Acrylic on Polyfiber
46″ x 39.5″

$1,800

Little Squalicum Beach

Little Squalicum Beach, 2024
Acrylic on Polyfiber
29.5″ x 18.25″

$900

Low Tide Clayton Beach

Low Tide Clayton Beach, 2024
Acrylic on Polyfiber
15″ x 23.5″

$800

Madrone Fantasy

Madrone Fantasy, 2015
Acrylic on Polyfiber
40″ x 28″

$1800

Katmai Valley

Mageik Lake Panorama, 2005
Acrylic on Polyfiber
22″ x 68″

$2,000

Peach poppy

Peach Poppy, 2015
Acrylic on Paper
19.5″ x 25.5″

$900

Twin Sisters, East Side

Twin Sisters, East Side, 2011
Acrylic on Polyfiber
24″ x 54″

$1,800

Vase with roses

Vase With Roses, 2014
Acrylic on Paper
28.5″ x 20.5″

$1,000

Yellow roses

Yellow Roses, 2024
Acrylic on Paper
22″ x 16.5″

$900

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