Artist21: Tony Orrico

I've been looking at Tony Orrico's work a lot lately. He combines ritual and meditative practices along with the dimensions of his body to create his art. He also incorporates performance art, creating many of his pieces in front of an audience. Hours of repeated actions go into the pieces. Orrico will do the same motions over and over again for a certain period of time or certain number of repetitions and then move onto the next motion. He often moves his entire body, working like organic clockwork.

His previous work as a dancer contributes heavily to his style as well. Each movement to create his drawings is like the steps in a rehearsed dance. Yoga is also important as it further aids in his ability to control his body and hold poses and contributes to the physical endurance needed for the hours he spends moving his body. All of these different properties and procedures coalesce to make Orrico's art. His work strikes me as more of an expression of a process and preexisting properties than a major expression of concept. His process is the concept in this case.