In conjunction with ORLAN’s participation as a keynote speaker in the “Bodies of Art” symposium at FAU, the University Galleries presents ORLAN Resurfacing: Surgery-Performance Photos and Recent Works, from December 1, 2010 to January 22, 2011 in the Schmidt Center Gallery Public Space. This exhibition features the work of the internationally acclaimed French multimedia artist ORLAN, who gained world-wide recognition in the early 1990s for her performances in which she redesigned herself through numerous plastic surgeries. Incredibly shocking and controversial when they were performed, ORLAN’s Surgery-Performances are not only historically valuable for the questions they raised concerning beauty, nature, and the body; they also remarkably presaged contemporary popular culture’s obsession with plastic surgery.

ORLAN’s recent work continues to investigate concepts of transfiguration through a variety of media, including photography, sculpture and installation. In addition to the Surgery-Performance Photos, this exhibition features a photographic installation of her recent work, Hybrid Double Skin.

ORLAN’s works have been the subject of countless international exhibitions and publications, including exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; PS1, New York; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Venice Biennale. ORLAN Resurfacing: Surgery-Performance Photos and Recent Works marks the first U.S. solo exhibition of ORLAN’s historically significant Surgery-Performance Photos.

This exhibition is curated by Erica Ando, Ph.D. student in Comparative Studies of the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters. The exhibition is generously sponsored by FAU’s: Center for Body, Mind and Culture, Department of Visual Arts and Art History, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters and the University Galleries. A special thank you to the Consulate General of France in Miami.

The exhibition is free and open to the public. Hours are Monday through Friday 8am – 9pm, Saturday 1pm – 5pm, closed Sunday. Schmidt Center Public Space, University Galleries, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton, FL 33431.

ORLAN will be present at the opening reception of ORLAN Resurfacing: Surgery-Performance Photos and Recent Works, December 2, 6:30-8:30pm.