Prismatic Pareidolia
In the practice of oil painting I reflect on the natural environment. The light, color, and sublime wild expanses of the Pacific Northwest keeps me tethered to a suggestion of landscape and possible reference to form. The lower Columbia River (where I call home) and the eastern steps of the Cascade Range in Central Washington have imprinted and tuned my focus of muse.
My approach over the last 25 years is made by free association of intuitive mark making, or automatism and simultaneously representational abstraction. A game of aesthetic chess for both practices. I stretch further from the literal reference and deeper into abstraction. I carve out composition in an investigation of interscape. Some recognizable form may begin to become obvious and as the dance continues it may be
worked into completion or destroyed in the event. I work in large blocks of time, often months without interruption on two-dozen or more surfaces at a time. This allows me to think quickly on my feet and make bold committed moves without fear of trying to preserve the “precious painting” or series of successful marks. I free up the canvas to explore risk taking and exploration of new possibilities.
This body of work was started while at the Ucross Foundation Residency in Wyoming the fall of 2023. This all inclusive experience provided the jet fuel to launch into a new series of works. The abstractions began to give way to a suggestion of floral arrangements. Most likely inspired by my wife’s bee sanctuary garden. As a result I developed some of these paintings into a more literal and representational form.
September, 2025
Darren Orange
In the practice of oil painting I reflect on the natural environment. The light, color, and sublime wild expanses of the Pacific Northwest keeps me tethered to a suggestion of landscape and possible reference to form. The lower Columbia River (where I call home) and the eastern steps of the Cascade Range in Central Washington have imprinted and tuned my focus of muse.
My approach over the last 25 years is made by free association of intuitive mark making, or automatism and simultaneously representational abstraction. A game of aesthetic chess for both practices. I stretch further from the literal reference and deeper into abstraction. I carve out composition in an investigation of interscape. Some recognizable form may begin to become obvious and as the dance continues it may be
worked into completion or destroyed in the event. I work in large blocks of time, often months without interruption on two-dozen or more surfaces at a time. This allows me to think quickly on my feet and make bold committed moves without fear of trying to preserve the “precious painting” or series of successful marks. I free up the canvas to explore risk taking and exploration of new possibilities.
This body of work was started while at the Ucross Foundation Residency in Wyoming the fall of 2023. This all inclusive experience provided the jet fuel to launch into a new series of works. The abstractions began to give way to a suggestion of floral arrangements. Most likely inspired by my wife’s bee sanctuary garden. As a result I developed some of these paintings into a more literal and representational form.
September, 2025
Darren Orange
