ORION GIRET – BRUTAL – ADDICTED TO LIFE BARCELONA

Dear Shaded viewers, dear Diane,

You might have noticed it before, the work of Orion Giret is very often provoking the resistance of material and ideas, rather he ignits fireworks threads burning into a wall drawing, or installs elements of construction in a challenging equilibrium. 

I was introduced to the works of Orion Giret by Jeff Rian, which co-curated his first one person show at our gallery in Paris.  American art critic and historian Jeff Rian was Orion’s teacher at les Beaux Arts de Cergy and noticed him as one the students that had an interesting voice and that could actually finish a piece.  Orion Giret's work is raw, it uses elements issued from popular culture and provokes the viewer, the passersby, as in a controversial intervention on Allan McCullom sculptures in Montpellier which he entirely repainted silver, his favorite color. After his first solo show in Paris at Outcasts Incorporated, Orion was invited to a residency in Barcelona. Where he recently opened Brutal, his new show in the  industrial space of Addicted to Life. In this large raw building of Poble Nou ran by Fabrice Criscuolo, resilient advertising and PR director.

Orion has installed Cosmic Gateway  at the entrance, with large metal panels to simulate the entrance of a site under construction, a wink to this space and neighborhood which seems to be in a permanently under construction.

A number of pieces exhibited went from Paper Game, a paper origami instruction drawn on a poster, as a how to, create a paper machine gun. Modern Obelisque, is a piece he created during his stay in Barcelona while in the district of Poblenou. Observing the huge chimneys have retained his attention as neighborhood monuments, and  strong symbols of this district. Drawn with firecracker threads on raw wooden boards, the towers/chimneys are getting drawn while burning. There are also elements of urban poetry like Eclipse is a piece composed of two sheet metal panels hoardings that are painted on their back in a bright yellow, the other red neon. A lamp is placed behind. We see that there is something behind this fence. Something light that radiates but we can not see. Other pieces are drawn with smoke on tiles, shades of pantone on construction panels …. 

Negotiation (Opening) is composed of five red bolt cutters forming a star, Negotiation proposes a reflection on the idea of the star as a goal, as a symbol of direction. It is representing a compass. While in Christian culture the star has served to guide the Magi, it also serves to mariners to navigate. A standard of quality and excellence, the star, is also a distinction in the military. This star/compass is drawn here with workers tool, but these same tools are very much used by thieves to enter private places. The clamp is used to construct but also to separate, a duality that makes it an appealing and ambiguous instrument. 

Keep an eye on him !

G

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