Robot Art by Fernando Orellana

Bailey Art Gallery exhibit to feature installation art from noted contemporary artist

Contemporary artist Fernando Orellana will bring his creative, distinct contemporary art to the Ben Bailey Art Gallery, Monday Feb. 21-Thursday, Feb.24.
Orellana will create an installation art exhibit during his visit—a type of contemporary art where art components are installed in a gallery to be experienced by the viewer for the duration of the show. He will work with both art and engineering students during the installation process. An artists’ reception for Orellana will take place from 4 p.m.-6p.m. Thursday, Feb. 24. The exhibit will be on display through April 1. This event is free and open to the public.

Orellana currently serves as an assistant professor of digital art at Union College in Schenectady, NY. He  uses new and traditional media as a way of transmitting concepts that range from generative art to social-political commentary. His work is infused with humor and frequently involves robotic forms, projected images and digital technology.

He has recently exhibited at the Cultural Center of Spain in El Salvador, Museu dʼArt Contemporani de Barcelona (Spain), Carrie Haddad Gallery (New York), Espacio Fundación Telefónica (Argentina), Exit Art (New York), LABoral, (Spain), The Tang Museum of Art, (New York), Glass Curtain Gallery (Chicago), The Ark (Ireland) and The Biennial of Electronic Art (Australia). His work is part of several art collections including the Richard and Ellen Sandor Family Collection Chicago, The Ohio State University Student Union Collection, and The Western Michigan University Collection.
He is the recipient of a 2009, New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in

Digital/Electronic Arts and a 2010 Full Fellowship Award at the Vermont Studio Center,  Johnson, VT. He received a Master of Fine Art from The Ohio State University and a Bachelor of Fine Art with honors at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He was born in El Salvador, San Salvador and currently lives in Troy, New York.

Next exhibit at the Ben Bailey Art Gallery

Fernando Orellana Poster

Artist Statement

Dying and birthing for generations upon generation, always arriving at a question,

we hurtle through space and time, helplessly out of control. Approaching the future

at an ever-increasing pace and plugged into one another ingenuously, we perpetually

dismantle and assemble each other. Along the way encountering irregular moments

of nirvana, keeping us interested and entertained.

It is through this prism that my recent artwork is born. Taking on varying forms and

mediums, the visions that have surfaced of late lean towards conversations about

the nature of reality, our place on the mortal coil, the relationship and

communications we share with each another, and what may lie beyond the shackles

of the living. Like the prisoners of Socrates’ cave, what dreams may come as we

reawaken from the shadows into the blinding light?

Fernando Orellana is an Assistant Professor of Digital Art at Union College in 
Schenectady, NY, Fernando Orellana uses new and traditional media as a way 
of transmittingconcepts that range from generative art to social-political commentary. 
He has recently exhibited at the Cultural Center of Spain in El Salvador, Museu dʼArt

Contemporani de Barcelona (Spain), Carrie Haddad Gallery (New York), Espacio

Fundación Telefónica (Argentina), Exit Art (New York), LABoral, (Spain), The

Tang Museum of Art, (New York), Glass Curtain Gallery (Chicago), The Ark

(Ireland), and The Biennial of Electronic Art (Australia).

His work is part of several art collections including the Richard and Ellen Sandor

family collection Chicago, IL., The Ohio State University Student Union

Collection, and The Western Michigan University Collection.

He has been reviewed in a variety of publications and catalogs including

ARTnews, Digital by Design, EMERGENTES, Art in America, Art Review,

Slashdot, We-Make-Money-Not-Art, Today’s Machining World, MAKE:

Technology on your Time, Technikart Futur, Wired Online, CNN, and NPR,

WBEZ.

He is the recipient of a 2009, New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in

Digital/Electronic Arts and a 2010 Full Fellowship Award at the Vermont Studio

Center, Johnson, VT.

He received a Master of Fine Art from The Ohio State University and a Bachelor

of Fine Art with honors at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He was born

in El Salvador, San Salvador and currently lives in Troy, New York.

For a complete CV and recent artwork see: www.fernandoorellana.com

ON VIEW • FEB 21 - APRIL 1, 2011

WORKSHOPS • FEB 21 - 25

ARTIST TALK • FEB. 24 • 1PM

ARTIST RECEPTION • FEB 24 • 4 - 6PM

Made possible with the generous support of The Presidential Performing and Visual Arts Series

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