PATRICIA ORPILLA

When We Wake to Desire

September 1, 2017

Vulpes Bastille, KCMO  

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“He never had a self that wished to continue in its own being, survival meant ceasing to be what its being was.” -from Desire by Frank Bidart

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A group exhibition featuring work by Patricia Graham, Kristina Noelle, Braden Bandel, and Molly Dillon. 

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When We Wake to Desire was built on an interest that desire may fuel many components of an artist's compositional choice with frame, color, and the way in which a figure interacts with and within a piece. Desire becomes an important, ongoing theme in my work, not only as a way to understand what I want, but what I was taught to want. I exhibited for the first time with my sister, Kristina Noelle, who has shared similar past experiences, experiences, which I believe, reflect in her work as well as mine.

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At a young age, I estranged myself from an upbringing in a heavily evangelical household. I now understand that what was taught to me as reality, was later something I worked to unlearn. I’m interested in the construction of ideology as it relates to history and an individual’s perception of context. My interest in ideology has led my investigation of breaking down linear compositions and traditional painting surfaces. Taking apart and constructing surfaces has led me into a sculptural practice. From Virginia Woolf, "I'm interested in the spine" or form of a painting. I'm interested in when conventional understanding (or structure) is denied or reinforced.

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Graphic Design by Jacob Canyon Robinson. Beer was provided by Stockyards Brewing Co.