| Jorge Orta | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1953 Rosario, Argentina |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Field | Visual Art |
Jorge Orta (born in 1953) is a Paris based, Italian Argentine contemporary visual artist.
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Orta was born in 1953, in Rosario, Argentina. After graduating simultaneously from the Faculty of Fine Arts and the Faculty of Architecture at the Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Jorge Orta began his career as a painter wining numerous awards for his work. In response to the increasing censorship of the Argentine military regime, his practice shifted to more avant-guard and alternative forms of visual communication such as mail art and action-performance, working in underground artist collectives. He was the first Argentine artist to explore video and image projection technology, staging a series controversial public installations in Rosario: Transcurso Vital (1981), Testigos Blancos (1982), Madera y Trapo (1983), and Fusion de sangre Latinoamericana (1984).
In 1982 Orta received a scholarship from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and moved to Paris to pursue a Phd. In 1991, a fire in his Quai de la Seine studio tragically destroyed his entire archive of ephemeral work conducted in Argentina.
Parallel to a studio-based practice and reconstruction of his archive, Jorge Orta began experimenting with the technology for large-scale image projection Light Works in the early 1980s and invented the Pyrex image plates for the PAE (Projector Art Effect) projectors. Exploring light as a new medium, he painted and illuminated mythical sites of architecture of cultural and significance across the world: Mount Aso (Japan), Cappadocia (Turkey), the Zócalo (Mexico City), The Verdon Gorge in France, and the Venetian Palaces along the Grand Canal representing Argentina for the Biennale di Venezia in 1995. The most exceptional Light Work took place in 1992 during a three-week expedition along the Andes mountain range and culminated at the Inca vestiges of Machu Picchu and Sacsayhuamán to partake in the Inti Raymi in front of 200,000 Peruvian Indians.
In 1993 he co-founded Studio Orta together with his partner, Lucy Orta. Working collaboratively their major artworks include: Connector, The Gift, OrtaWater, 70 x 7 The Meal, Antarctica. Lucy + Jorge Orta began restoration on a complex of artist studios and residencies at The Dairy and Les Moulins, former industrial buildings situated along the Grand Morin river in Marne La Vallée, as a living extension of their practice: “The staging of a social bond ”( Pierre Restany, Process of Transformation. Ed. JM Place Paris 1996 [1]). Their work has been the focus of numerous major exhibitions at the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa Venice, Italy 2005; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Rotterdam in 2006; Galleria Continua San Gimignano/ Beijing / Le Moulin in 2007, Biennale del fin del Mundo, Antarctica in 2007, Hangar Bicocca spazio d'arte Milano in 2008, Natural History Museum London in 2010.
In 2007 the artists received Green Leaf Award for Sculpture, for artistic excellence with an environmental message, presented by the United Nations Environment Programme in partnership with the Natural World Museum, at the Nobel Peace Centre Oslo, Norway.