Renato Orara

Bio   |   
Selected Works   |   
Available Artworks for Renato Orara

Bio

Renato Orara (b. 1961, Bicol, Philippines; lives and works in New York, USA) is an artist recognized for his creations using a ballpoint pen on paper. His drawings portray objects devoid of their context, meaning, and narrative, surpassing the limits imposed by language and material constraints. With a conceptual foundation rooted in interventions and public performance arts in Manila in the 70s, Orara resurfaced from an eight-year Zen meditation hiatus to embark on a renewed career with the use of ballpoint ink. Over time he reintroduced concepts into his art, branching out into series of works such as Drawer Drawings, Iraq Memorial, Bookworks, Bloodworks, and Entangled Pairs.

His works are in numerous private and public collections including the Museum of Modern Art, NY, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, TX, and the Singapore Art Museum. Exhibitions include the US Palo Alto Cultural Center, Hosfelt Gallery, Andrea Rosen Gallery, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, Gallery Joe, OSP Gallery, Joseé Bienvenu Gallery, Leo Fortuna Gallery, the Travelling Gallery, Dominique Fiat Gallery, Alon Segev Gallery, and Silverlens Gallery.

Renato Orara (b. 1961, Bicol, Philippines; lives and works in New York, USA) is an artist recognized for his creations using a ballpoint pen on paper. His drawings portray objects devoid of their context, meaning, and narrative, surpassing the limits imposed by language and material constraints. With a conceptual foundation rooted in interventions and public performance arts in Manila in the 70s, Orara resurfaced from an eight-year Zen meditation hiatus to embark on a renewed career with the use of ballpoint ink. Over time he reintroduced concepts into his art, branching out into series of works such as Drawer Drawings, Iraq Memorial, Bookworks, Bloodworks, and Entangled Pairs.

His works are in numerous private and public collections including the Museum of Modern Art, NY, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, TX, and the Singapore Art Museum. Exhibitions include the US Palo Alto Cultural Center, Hosfelt Gallery, Andrea Rosen Gallery, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, Gallery Joe, OSP Gallery, Joseé Bienvenu Gallery, Leo Fortuna Gallery, the Travelling Gallery, Dominique Fiat Gallery, Alon Segev Gallery, and Silverlens Gallery.

Selected Works

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Selected Works

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Untitled, 07/2018 (from the ongoing series Ten Thousand Things That Breathe)
2018
8790
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Ballpoint ink on torn paper. variable dimensions
15h x 9.5w in • 38.10h x 24.13w cm (approx.)
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Untitled (from the Iraq Memorial series)
2007
2909
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Ballpoint pen on paper
11h x 11w in • 27.94h x 27.94w cm
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untitled, 06/2010 (from the ongoing series Ten Thousand Things That Breathe)
2010
916
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ballpoint ink on paper
8h x 5.50w in • 20.32h x 13.97w cm
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Untitled, 12/2014 (from the ongoing series Ten Thousand Things That Breathe)
2014
2823
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ballpoint ink on paper
11.02h x 10.51w in • 28h x 26.70w cm
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Untitled, 2020-01 (from the ongoing series Ten Thousand Things that Breathe)
2020
918
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ballpoint ink on paper
11h x 10.50w in • 27.94h x 26.67w cm
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B 2778 E5 M5 1952 (The Critique of Practical Reason by Immanuel Kant)
2008
914
1
Durst Lambda photograph
16h x 20w in 40.64h x 50.80w cm
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Edition of 20
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New Yorker - 08-15 June 2015 issue (from the ongoing series Bookworks)
2015
917
1
ballpoint ink on magazine page
10.8 x 15.5 x 0.1 in • 27.4 x 39.4 x 0.3 cm (spread); 10.8 x 7.7 x 0.2 in • 27.4 x 19.6 x 0.5 cm (closed)
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Untitled, 06/2014 (from the ongoing series Ten Thousand Things That Breathe)
2014
2824
1
ballpoint ink on paper
11h x 10.50w in • 27.94h x 26.67w cm
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All The Names Of The Lord (from the ongoing series, "Bookworks")
2017
920
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ballpoint ink on bookpage
9.6h x 13.19w x 1.18d in • 24.3h x 33.5w x 3d cm (spread); 9.6h x 6.3w x 0.79d in • 24.3h x 16w x 2d cm (closed)
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Selected Exhibitions

NEW YORK
16 January - 01 March 2025
Entangled Pairs
Silverlens, New York
Silverlens is pleased to present 'Renato Orara: Entangled Pairs,' a major cross-continental exhibition of the artist's work, staged simultaneously across Silverlens' Manila and New York galleries. 'Entangled Pairs' consists of 100 lifelike ballpoint pen drawings of everyday objects: a glove and a plastic water bottle; a teapot and a hammer; a tomato and a butternut squash. These consecutively-made renderings are paired and split from their counterparts across two continents.
MANILA
09 January - 05 February 2025
Entangled Pairs
Silverlens, Manila
Silverlens is pleased to present 'Renato Orara: Entangled Pairs,' a major cross-continental exhibition of the artist's work, staged simultaneously across Silverlens' Manila and New York galleries. 'Entangled Pairs' consists of 100 lifelike ballpoint pen drawings of everyday objects: a glove and a plastic water bottle; a teapot and a hammer; a tomato and a butternut squash. These consecutively-made renderings are paired and split from their counterparts across two continents.
NEW YORK
05 September - 08 September 2024
The Armory Show 2024
Javits Center, 429 11th Avenue, New York
Silverlens is pleased to announce its participation in The Armory Show 2024, showcasing works by seven, mid-career Southeast Asian artists: Patricia Perez Eustaquio, Kawayan de Guia, Gregory Halili, Mit Jai Inn, Wawi Navarroza, Renato Orara, and Pow Martinez.
MANILA
22 March - 05 April 2022
Renato Orara
Silverlens, Manila
Upon closer regard there is something unsettling about the pieces in Ten Thousand Things That Breathe. They are not exactly accurate representations of the subjects he chooses. While there is the object depicted on paper, there are also the moments in between—the shifting angles of perspective, the shape of the paper that contains his marks, the density of marks in relation to one another, and the manner in which these marks interact with the negative space. Each piece becomes an object in and of itself.
MANILA
24 September - 24 October 2015
Renato Orara
Silverlens, Manila
Silverlens is pleased to announce the solo exhibition of Renato Orara’s more recent incarnations from the series 'Ten Thousand Things that Breathe', begun in 1989.
SINGAPORE
18 January - 30 January 2016
Renato Orara
Silverlens at Artspace@Helutrans, Singapore
The show features works from 'Ten Thousand Things that Breathe', a series of drawings on paper that the artist has been making since 1989.
MANILA
08 January - 14 February 2009
Library Bookworks
Silverlens, Manila
For his first gallery exhibition in the Philippines, Renato Orara renders human ears in library books and produces corresponding photographic prints with the books' call number labels affixed to them.

Selected Press

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