September 25, 2012



Contact:
Sandra Q. Firmin
Curator, UB Art Gallery
716.645.0570
sfirmin@buffalo.edu

Tony Orrico Performs the Drawing Prone to Stand

Public Performance in the Lightwell Gallery of the UB Art Gallery, 
Center for the Arts, North Campus
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
3 to 7pm

Prone to Stand is part of the Penwald Drawings, a series of bilateral 
drawings in which Tony Orrico explores the use of his body as a tool of 
measurement to inscribe geometries through movement and duration. 
Reminiscent of Leonardo DaVinci’s classically proportioned Vitruvian 
Man, he becomes a human Spirograph machine in which his outstretched 
arms stem from the body’s central axis in an attempt at dual dominance 
between his limbs and spontaneous symmetrical motion. The performances 
involve the buildup of dense lines over time coupled with sounds of his 
physical exertion and felt-tipped pens marking the paper in long 
continuous strokes until they are depleted. Audiences are invited into 
this intensely physical and psychologically charged arena in which 
themes of repetition, choreographed locomotion, and eventual exhaustion 
are played out.

Tony Orrico is a visual artist, performer, and choreographer. His 
Penwald Drawings have been presented and exhibited internationally, 
attracting attention from prominent collectors and institutions. As a 
former member of Trisha Brown Dance Company and Shen Wei Dance Arts, 
Orrico has graced such stages as the Sydney Opera House, Teatro 
LaFenice, New York State Theater, and Théâtre du Palais-Royal. He was 
also one of a select group of artists to re-perform the work of Marina 
Abramovic during her retrospective at MoMA.

Generous support for the exhibition is provided by Shoshana and Wayne 
Blank. Additional support provided by UB’s Department of Visual Studies.

UB Art Gallery, Center for the Arts, is funded by the UB College of Arts 
Sciences, the Visual Arts Building Fund, and the Seymour H. Knox 
Foundation Fine Arts Fund.


For more information call: 716.645.0570

Hours: Tuesday through Friday, 11am-5pm; Saturday 1-5pm.

The UB Art Gallery is located in the Center for the Arts on the North 
Campus just north of the I-290 on Millersport Highway. Traveling east or 
west on the I-290 take exit 5B to Millersport Highway North. Turn onto 
the campus at the Coventry entrance. As you enter the campus, the Center 
for the Arts is a high gabled white building directly ahead of you.

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Image caption:
TONY ORRICO
Performance at Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
May 24, 2012