NADA Miami 2023

Danielle Orchard’s practice nods to the works of Modern masters of decades past, while centering the female figure as a site of both complex interiority and painterly exploration. Born in Michigan City, Indiana and currently based in Brooklyn, New York, the artist holds a BFA in Painting from Indiana University and an MFA in Painting from CUNY Hunter College. Her paintings have been the subject of solo exhibitions at venues that include Perrotin in Shanghai, New York and Paris; Jack Hanley Gallery, New York; V1 Gallery, Copenhagen; and Half Gallery, Los Angeles; among others. Additionally, they can be found in the public collections of Miami’s Marquez Art Projects and Perez Art Museum. Recent awards include the Frederick Hammersley Artist in Residence at the Tamarind Institute, University of New Mexico; the Alma B.C. Schapiro Artist in Residence Award, The Corporation of Yaddo; and the Dedalus Foundation MFA Fellowship Award.

Depicting two primary characters enjoying an outdoor picnic on a grassy field situated in front of a beach, An End In Sight draws on Orchard’s memories from a summer spent in Bordeaux, which coincided with the large-scale wildfires that swept across France in 2022. In her painting, one figure pours into a cup surrounded by various food items strewn across a white blanket, while the other peers presumably towards a distant character walking across the sand as well as the sea that lies beyond. Orchard’s work is distinguished by a warm orange haze, which lends a surrealistic, otherworldly feeling to an otherwise ordinary summer scene. As the artist recalls, “To me, this painting exudes a sense of heat and stillness that I did not want to lose. In lieu of any dramatic changes to the image, I chose to incorporate small, subtle still life elements, like additional cone flowers or spilled Solo cups of wine. My aim was to explore potential new narratives and spatial arrangements, with as few tweaks as possible.”