Orly (Sud) / Works > 2008 ......
Presentation
Orly (Sud) is the title of a series of works inspired by the South Wing of Paris' Orly Airport.
Initiated in 2008, the first generation of paintings brings together a group of anonymous figures moving through the airport's interior and exterior spaces alike. The choreography of flight and imbalance that animates these silhouettes — seemingly crossing paths without ever truly meeting — seeks to convey a sense of disorientation and unease, reflecting the failure of the social and technological aspirations associated with the "Glorious Thirty", France's post-war boom years, with disillusionment and economical upheavals as a result of the debacle.
The final two paintings in this cycle (“Vol 10 – Point de Rencontre” and “Vol 11 – You Won't Forget Me”) herald the direction the series would subsequently take, introducing artists who were contemporary with the airport's heyday. Having first explored the gradual dissolution of the myth, Orly (Sud) would henceforth celebrate its magnificence.
From 2012 onwards, a second generation of works turned to the cultural totems of the “Glorious Thirty”, bringing into the airport setting a number of emblematic artists of the 1960s and 1970s. The symbiotic relationship between the airport and these stars of a deliberately idealised past becomes increasingly apparent, further affirming the iconic status of Orly's South Terminal.
The Orly (Sud) series also includes a body of works on paper specifically devoted to the airport's Control Tower.
Finally, a selection of photographs of the South Terminal, taken during location surveys undertaken as part of the documentary research supporting the paintings, is presented here as a complementary artistic testimony alongside the existing works.
© Jacques Benoit. Design, works, photographies and texts by Jacques Benoit and under the author’s copyright. Except when derived from other sources and then mentioned as such.