Uriel Orlow

Uriel Orlow's artistic practice is based on site-specific research, the output of which he weaves into comprehensive conglomerations of works. Since 2015, Orlow has been investigating political and historical perspectives of the plant world. He pursues this approach in the new project "Tree School", in the context of which the present works are embedded. The starting point for the new series of works is a wood library in Lisbon, founded at the beginning of the 20th century. These so-called xylotheques or xylaria were first established in Europe at the end of the 18th century for the study, documentation and classification of wood species. They can be viewed against the backdrop of the Enlightenment and taxonomy and embody the importance of wood as a natural resource, whether as fuel, building material, or - in the context of a colonial power like Portugal - for the construction of ships.

The two new works are based on representations of the tree species Daniellia oliveri, native to Guinea-Bissau. While "Forest Essentials Take Two / Close-Up (Bóbe)" reproduces microscopic images of the wood fibers as a woodcut on paper, "Forest Essentials Take Two / Long Shot (Bóbe)" shows a silkscreen on beech wood on which Orlow combined archival photographs of dense Daniellia oliveri vegetation and of an isolated tree. The tree species reflects the holdings of the Lisbon xylarium, which were mainly expanded between the 1940s and 1960s through expeditions to Portugal's African colonies and were accordingly used for the study of exotic tree species. From forest to wooden board and from fiber structure to paper, the works as pendants accomplish a multi-layered shift from the large to the small, from material to utility, from historical archive to contemporary printmaking.

Uriel Orlow was awarded the C. F. Meyer Prize in 2020. He has had solo exhibitions for instance at Kunsthalle Mainz (2020) and Kunsthalle St. Gallen (2018). Orlow's works are represented in the collections of the City of Zurich, the Kunsthaus Zürich, the Aargauer Kunsthaus, and the Kunstmuseum Bern, among others. VH

The production of these works was made possible by the Art Collection Department of the City of Zurich.