Eric Orr

Eric Orr was one of the pioneering figures of the Light and Space movement. Like Larry Bell, Robert Irwin, Doug Wheeler, and James Turrell, Orr created installations, sculptures, and paintings that explored our understanding of our environment and used light to highlight color and form. Inspired by early Buddhist philosophy and Egyptian symbolism, his oeuvre included monochromatic paintings and large-scale fountains. Orr incorporated natural materials like stone, fire, and metal in addition to gold, blood, bone, and radio parts. Blood Shadow (1981) is one example of this, and is made from lead, glass, gold leaf, meteorite dust, and blood. His subtle inclusion of materials like blood connects to his interest in the stuff that remains unseen but omnipresent. His work has been shown at the Venice Biennale and documenta 7, and is in the collections of the Centre Pompidou, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Guggenheim.