Nostalgia and the picturesque come together in Stas Orlovski’s immersion in the nocturnal garden. After touring Wave Hill, he was particularly drawn to the white pine (Pinus strobes) because of its iconography and symbolism. He notes that in tree lore the scent of the pine was considered a remedy to alleviate guilt. In this pair of paintings he examines the “pine state,” an emotional place of introversion, guilt, and regret, where the remedy reduces blame and frees the self. A drypoint of pines by the nineteenth-century French artist Camile Fonce was a starting point for this particular work. He appropriated the image of the tree to create a forest, and the nostalgic full moon becomes its focus.

Folklore, pseudoscience, and natural history, as well as midcentury Russian children’s books, Japanese prints, and Dutch botanical illustration, are all sources for Stas Orlovski’s work. He has had regular solo exhibitions at Mixed Greens, New York, NY; Nathan Larramendy Gallery, Ojai, CA; Peter Miller Gallery, Chicago, IL; and Traywick Gallery, San Fancisco, CA. His work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including Flocks and Feathers: Birds in Science, Culture & Art, Everhart Museum of Natural History, Science & Art, Scranton, PA; The Uncertainty Principle: Drawing in the Golden Age of Worry, Northern Illinois University Art Museum, DeKalb, IL; and Hybrids, Wave Hill, Bronx, NY. He has received a City of Los Angeles Individual Artist Fellowship, and has had residencies at Art Omi International Art Center, Ghent, NY, and Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY. He is assistant professor of art at Long Beach City College in California; he earned his BFA from York University, his B.Ed from the University of Toronto, and his MFA from the University of Southern California.

More information is available at: http://www.mixedgreens.com/Artweb/html/ArtistResults.asp?artist=30