PERFECT VESSELS | a solo exhibition by David Orr
Saturday, September 27, 2025 - Saturday, November 8, 2025
The term vessel connotes many things. A container. A craft one travels (or once traveled) in. A conduit through which powerful energy manifests itself. An exquisitely shaped form, once utilitarian, now admired both as artifact and art.
For the images in the Perfect Vessels series, artist David Orr photographs then mirrors half a human skull to simultaneously stylize and reinforce its original, iconic shape. These works are meant to illustrate the original Greek origin of the term symmetria, meaning “agreement in dimensions, due proportion, arrangement.” Many of the skulls photographed by Orr in this series are from the collection of the Mütter Museum, often with unique asymmetries. By mirroring one side and repeating any 'flaws', Orr arrives at something closer to perfection.
This simple gesture can generate complex results. Upon examination, one notices subtle phenomena manifesting themselves within the reinforced whole. Surface textures become further emphasized. Intricate, sculptural patterns emerge. Expressionistic, ‘Rorschach-like’ abstractions begin to appear, often in areas considered auspicious throughout centuries of Eastern thought. These manifestations correlate to another intent of this series. As well as creating a sculptural image that serves as a Memento Mori, Orr has created illustrated reminders of the vast complexities of our own natural shapes. The differences between each are infinite: just as no two faces are truly identical, neither are any two skulls.
The formal balance of the end result further reinforces the notion of a skull as a container (vases, urns, glasses and chalices are most often symmetrical objects). There is a long history of skulls being used as practical vessels. After battles, victors drank from the skulls of the vanquished. There is a tradition wherein Buddhists would drink from a decorated human skull (kapala, meaning skull, bowl, or vessel) to reinforce precepts of impermanence. Lord Byron drank wine from a skull (and was thus inspired to write a poem about it: Lines Inscribed Upon a Cup Formed From a Skull, 1808).
Of course, the human skull is a powerfully resonant symbol, crossing physical, linguistic, cultural, and religious borders. Skulls have long appeared as metaphors and reminders of our mortality (and, accordingly, the transience of our existence) in every culture—from ancient Tibetan bone art to the Vanitas tradition in Still Life (Nature Morte) painting in the 16th and 17th centuries, to present-day warning signs.
The print images are dye-infused onto archival aluminum discs, and float in a void of black, linking the skull (the housing of the mechanism by which we each create our own discrete models of the universe) to the mandala (an often geometric representation/model of the universe).
The Perfect Vessels exhibition will include prints, stereoscopic, and video works.
There is a long tradition wherein Buddhists would drink from a decorated human skull (kapala, meaning skull, bowl, or vessel) to reinforce precepts of impermanence
For the images in the Perfect Vessels series, artist David Orr photographs then mirrors half a human skull to simultaneously stylize and reinforce its original, iconic shape. These works are meant to illustrate the original Greek origin of the term symmetria, meaning “agreement in dimensions, due proportion, arrangement.” Many of the skulls photographed by Orr in this series are from the collection of the Mütter Museum, often with unique asymmetries. By mirroring one side and repeating any 'flaws', Orr arrives at something closer to perfection.
This simple gesture can generate complex results. Upon examination, one notices subtle phenomena manifesting themselves within the reinforced whole. Surface textures become further emphasized. Intricate, sculptural patterns emerge. Expressionistic, ‘Rorschach-like’ abstractions begin to appear, often in areas considered auspicious throughout centuries of Eastern thought. These manifestations correlate to another intent of this series. As well as creating a sculptural image that serves as a Memento Mori, Orr has created illustrated reminders of the vast complexities of our own natural shapes. The differences between each are infinite: just as no two faces are truly identical, neither are any two skulls.
The formal balance of the end result further reinforces the notion of a skull as a container (vases, urns, glasses and chalices are most often symmetrical objects). There is a long history of skulls being used as practical vessels. After battles, victors drank from the skulls of the vanquished. There is a tradition wherein Buddhists would drink from a decorated human skull (kapala, meaning skull, bowl, or vessel) to reinforce precepts of impermanence. Lord Byron drank wine from a skull (and was thus inspired to write a poem about it: Lines Inscribed Upon a Cup Formed From a Skull, 1808).
Of course, the human skull is a powerfully resonant symbol, crossing physical, linguistic, cultural, and religious borders. Skulls have long appeared as metaphors and reminders of our mortality (and, accordingly, the transience of our existence) in every culture—from ancient Tibetan bone art to the Vanitas tradition in Still Life (Nature Morte) painting in the 16th and 17th centuries, to present-day warning signs.
The print images are dye-infused onto archival aluminum discs, and float in a void of black, linking the skull (the housing of the mechanism by which we each create our own discrete models of the universe) to the mandala (an often geometric representation/model of the universe).
The Perfect Vessels exhibition will include prints, stereoscopic, and video works.
There is a long tradition wherein Buddhists would drink from a decorated human skull (kapala, meaning skull, bowl, or vessel) to reinforce precepts of impermanence
David Orr is a visual artist based in California. His work has been shown extensively in the United States and internationally in shows juried by representatives from the de Young Museum, theInternational Center for Photography, the Lucie Awards, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, The New York Times, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among others. His work is in public collections among such artists as Ansel Adams, John Baldessari, Jim Dine, David Hockney, The Brothers Quay, Edward Weston, and Joel-Peter Witkin.
His work has appeared in Art Daily, Buzzfeed, Communication Arts, Graphis, Harper’s, Hyperallergic, The Photo Review, Print, The Art Director’s Club, The Society of Publication Designers, Psychological Perspectives, The Theosophist, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, VICE, and VICTOR: The Hasselblad Magazine. Independent film projects have aired on Channel 4 Britain and PBS. He speaks about his work regularly, and has presented at The Joseph Campbell Foundation, Death Salon, The Director’s Guild of America, Dublintellectual, The Mütter Museum, The New School, Parsons School of Design, The Philosophical Research Society, Reed College, Tibet House US, and UCLA, among other venues. He is a member of The Long Now Foundation.
David established the contemporary arts program at The Philosophical Research Society, and founded the Hansell Gallery, serving as curator during its first year.
His work has appeared in Art Daily, Buzzfeed, Communication Arts, Graphis, Harper’s, Hyperallergic, The Photo Review, Print, The Art Director’s Club, The Society of Publication Designers, Psychological Perspectives, The Theosophist, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, VICE, and VICTOR: The Hasselblad Magazine. Independent film projects have aired on Channel 4 Britain and PBS. He speaks about his work regularly, and has presented at The Joseph Campbell Foundation, Death Salon, The Director’s Guild of America, Dublintellectual, The Mütter Museum, The New School, Parsons School of Design, The Philosophical Research Society, Reed College, Tibet House US, and UCLA, among other venues. He is a member of The Long Now Foundation.
David established the contemporary arts program at The Philosophical Research Society, and founded the Hansell Gallery, serving as curator during its first year.
About the Mütter Museum: The museum helps the public understand the mysteries and beauty of the human body and to appreciate the history of diagnosis and treatment of disease.
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