In Harry’s words:

“A quarter century of painting has been an act of the imagination to determine who and what I am with respect to the earth and sky. Process, rather than product oriented, searching for the daily painting, has become a way of living in relationship with the earth. To become a human being, a part of nature rather than someone separate observing it from the outside, like hunter-gathers, I am led from one opportunity to the next, being directed by seasonal stages. The relationship has become the trust I give it to show me where my next painting will be. Each painting entails facing a swath of creation and observing something of its story, becomes a long log of small truths.

 

Sitting in the cold in a traditional way, I paint what is before me, sometimes as still as the Eskimo who earns his family’s meal by waiting and watching and thinking. He kills an animal; I make an image. We are linked together by our years of long studied views across a common land. I am so cold sometimes with the windows of my black Dodge van rolled up tight (I never turn on the engine once parked to paint, afraid of carbon monoxide). In a cold-induced trance, painting continues all by itself. Often the final dim presence of light exits while both hands are still at work and I do not know what I have made until the painting is brought into the light of a room.”

The Laffer Gallery is honored and priviledged to present a retrospective for artist Harry Orlyk entitiled “A Longer View” – an event that will feature over 200 pieces spanning Harry’s long and prolific career. This comprehensive salon-style exhibition will run from February 25 through March 26, 2023.