“Madeleine” exhibition | Photo: Michael Underwood
Julie Orser‘s photography and video works consistently engage with the mechanics of American cinema, with a particular focus on representations of women in film. Tall and slender with black-rimmed glasses and a soothing voice, Orser could have appeared in one of the American film genres she dissects, whether it’s psychological melodrama, suspense thriller, film noir, Western, or coming-of-age. Most in her element when she is playing the role of director, however, Orser prefers to be behind the camera capturing others. At times, her high-quality video and photography dances on the line between becoming its own genre of experimental film and commenting on the history of film. Like a good director, she has a vision that the viewer can trust.
Orser grew up in the suburbs north of Chicago. She headed to the West Coast to start her art career, completing her BFA at Pacific Northwest College of Art before coming to Los Angeles to do an MFA at CalArts. She’s remained in Los Angeles since then, working as a New Genres Lab Supervisor at U.C.L.A. before landing at her current academic institution, Cal State Fullerton where she currently works. This is her fourth solo exhibition, and her third one in Los Angeles — the other two were at Steve Turner Contemporary and Paul Kopeikin Gallery. Recent notable group exhibitions abroad include “Super 8,” curated by Christopher Grimes Gallery at the Musuem of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2013), and a closer to home “We Can Pretend: Three Artists’ Takes on Hollywood Genre Film,” curated by Carrie Paterson at Jaus Gallery in Los Angeles.
Read the full story on KCET LA: http://www.kcet.org/arts/artbound/counties/los-angeles/julie-orsers-luckman-fine-arts-complex.html
