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David Orr

@davidorrart

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Artist, Los Angeles

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“My Favorite Things” and “Kind of Blue” were my entry point into Jazz, and I remember the day I realized that the same guy was on both albums.

And those were early days.

What a range he had. What a reach. Unafraid to challenge, yet open enough to collaborate with a crooner.

A few years ago I saw Ravi at the Village Vanguard. It was a moment for me (and, I imagine, for him), to see the son playing in a club that still has so much of his father in its DNA.

I love the sacred geometry of the Circle of Fifths he drew for Yusef Lateef.

#johncoltrane #giant #100 by @davidorrart

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9 days ago

Omen

#vibe #something #coming taken in Los Angeles, California by @davidorrart

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2 months ago

(DOTS)

1) Wilshire Blvd., LA
2) Albert Ledner, NYC
3) Alchemical text, Getty Research Institute
3) Jonathan Borofsky, Beverly Blvd., LA
4) KROTONA Institute of Theosophy, Ojai
5) Mütter Museum, Philadelphia
6) Weddington Street, LA
7) Hedy Lamarr, László Willinger.
8) Wilshire Blvd., LA
9) The Last Bookstore, LA
10) Harry Smith, Getty Research Institute
11) Moons, photos folder
12) Velvets/Warhol, Hervé Gloaguen
13 Crosswalk, LA

⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️

#losangeles #nyc #philadelphia #dots by @davidorrart

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2 months ago

In 2011 I was lucky enough to attend “Joni’s Jazz” at the Hollywood Bowl.

Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Mark Isham, Jon Cowherd, Brian Blade, Tom Scott, Jeff Haynes, Greg Leisz. Amazing.

The vocalists were an eclectic and inspired, as well: Cassandra Wilson, Aimee Mann, Chaka Kahn, Kurt Elling, and Glen Hansard (who I only really knew from ‘Once’).

The second half of the show was dedicated to “The Hissing of Summer Lawns” - a treat in itself.

After telling a funny story about how he’d set off an alarm by the Hollywood sign while hiking earlier in the day, Hansard closed the show leading a powerfully moving acapella version of “Shadows and Light“ that stirred the soul and brought the house down.

I can still hear it.

[ Photo: Stephan Vanfleteren ]

#glenhansard #jonimitchell #hollywoodbowl #jazz #music by @davidorrart

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2 months ago

HB, CJ!!!

#carljung #collective unconscious #mandala #master #archetype taken in Los Angeles, California by @davidorrart

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2 months ago

HB, DL

#dalailama by @davidorrart

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3 months ago

A cinema cathedral

Was lucky enough to be invited to a @laconservancy screening of ‘LA Confidential’ by @deathtrane a week or so ago. Such a great film.

1. They (literally) don’t build ‘em like this anymore.

2. LA Noir at its finest.

3. Two geniuses walk into a theater…

#losangeles #palace #einstein #chaplin taken in Los Angeles Theatre by @davidorrart

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3 months ago

“Nothing is nothing.”
— Robert AF Thurman

His introduction to the Tibetan book of the dead is one of the best summations of Buddhism I’ve ever read.

His friendship with the Dalai Lama was legendary, and his founding of Tibet House (with Philip Glass and Richard Gere) created a sea change in America’s understanding and access to Buddhism. And this doesn’t even begin to cover his remarkable series of courses at Columbia University, where he was chair of the eastern studies department.

When I had my show @tibethouse.us was lucky enough to have him write an essay for my catalog, to have him insist on including skull imagery in the show, have him choose my image of the prajñāpāramitā Sutra as his favorite, and to be in conversation with him and @komodokittay discussing my work and its origins.

Later, after I’d added him to my list of weekly image emails, I was always excited to get a reply from him, to tell me he was tickled.

85 is both a full life lived and too short.

#robertthurman #tibethouse #davidorrart #tibetanbuddhism taken in Planet Earth by @davidorrart

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3 months ago

Six Moons at Krotona

Midway through the pandemic, @joethejohnston was kind enough to gift me a telescope and I began photographing the moon and creating patterns from it.

I began sending them out every Monday (moon day) as a way of staying in touch with folks I wasn’t able to see. A series emerged, and I showed many of them at @tibethouse.us in New York when I had my solo show there.

Recently I hung six of them in the lovely library at the @krotonainstituteoftheosophy as a kind of installation, and have been struck by the way they feel in the room.

#moon #mandala #davidorrart #krotonainstituteoftheosophy #ojai taken in Krotona Institute of Theosophy by @davidorrart

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4 months ago

If you’re in Portugal next week…

So nice to think of all the folks ‘round the world seeing this.

Many thanks to @rayonthebae and @shunleewest for putting me together with Nick Cave and Warren Ellis to create this little gem.

@birdsongproject was created to help bring awareness to the precarious beauty and wonder of our avian brethren via @audubonsociety As we navigate these tricky times, let’s keep them in mind.

🕊️

#wooddove #nickcaveandwarrenellis #davidorrart #birdsongproject #musicvideo taken in Lisbon, Portugal by @davidorrart

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4 months ago

Harry Smith in the (7th) house!

What a pleasure to share the stage with @jesshundley @ouroboros_press @rani_singh22 and (virtually) Charles Stein at the Philosophical Research Society last night.

And what an honor/validation to have an exhibition of his work up in a Gallery I founded. Wow.

Many thanks to @7th___house Kelly Carmena, and @devondeimler for holding this event, and inviting me to participate.

#harrysmitharchives #philosophicalresearchsociety #art #talk #hansellgallery taken in The Philosophical Research Society by @davidorrart

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5 months ago

“Harry was a kind of magician…”
— Allen Ginsberg

Harry Smith might be one of the most influential people you’ve barely heard of. If you have, you may only know him (as I originally did) as the curator/creator of the Anthology of American Folk Music.

But there’s much, much more.

Allen Ginsberg described him as a genius, who acted as a “worm at the bottom of American culture’s mezcal bottle:” it is almost impossible to overstate his influence. Not unlike John Cage, everyone he met, Harry changed.

Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead, Patti Smith, Robert Frank, Jonas Mekas, Stan Brakhage, Andy Warhol, Bruce Springsteen, Robert Mapplethorpe, Hal Willner, Marianne Faithfull (and of course Ginsberg), are only a partial list of bold-faced names Harry transformed.

Harry’s 4,200-piece collection of books, albums, journals and pamphlets now reside at the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

His papers are in the collection at The Getty Research Institute.

Join me at the @philosophical_research_society (Thursday evening at 7pm) for “Mind Maps: Exploring Harry Smith’s Hermetical Allusions,” a multimedia panel with @thelibraryofesoterica Jessica Hundley, @ouroboros_press William Keisel, and Getty Curator and Director of the Harry Smith Archives @harry_smith_archives Rani Singh as we explore his magic, methods, and mayhem.

1) Harry Smith
2) Film still from “Mahagonny”
3) Ginsberg
4) 2024 Whitney retrospective
5) Misc. film stills
6) Marianne Faithfull, Hal Willner, Harry Smith at Naropa
7) influence on Dylan, The Grateful Dead, Springsteen…
8) Aleister Crowley, lifelong subject of HS

#magic #art #music #genius taken in The Philosophical Research Society by @davidorrart

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5 months ago