Robert Orchardson (born Glasgow, 1976) works primarily in sculpture, using materials such as wood, resin and aluminum. His architectural installations reference Modernist architecture, futuristic design, science fiction films and stage sets. Orchardson has made a number of prints and this work also evidences his ongoing interest in twentieth century architecture and its utopian ideals: the 2012 print Glass Chain depicts a crystal in the sharp, geometrical lines and bold colours common to early Modernist movements and collectives. The title refers to the work of a German collective that in the 1920s proposed utopian architecture based on crystalline forms, forms which for architect Bruno Taut ‘represented values of truth, transparency and transcendence in modern architecture.’

Orchardson spent two weeks in Chandigarh, a city conceived by Independent India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1948 and designed by the Swiss architect Le Corbusier from 1951. With support from the Le Corbusier Centre in Chandigarh, Orchardson was able to visit key examples of the architect’s work in a city that has been described as ‘one of the most remarkable urban projects and a key milestone in the history of Modern architecture and urban planning’. However, many of the buildings are now crumbling and have fallen in disrepair. The artist was fascinated by the resulting contrast between modernity and decay, movement and stasis. His work for Below another sky explores the surfaces, textures and underlying structures of Le Corbusier’s vision, reconfiguring these to become something new.  

Below another sky was the first collaborative programme developed by the Scottish Print Network, a partnership between Dundee Contemporary Arts, Edinburgh Printmakers, Glasgow Print Studio, Highland Print Studio, Inverness and Peacock Visual Arts, Aberdeen.

10 artists from Scotland and 10 from Commonwealth countries were invited to undertake research residencies during 2013 and 2014. Artists from Scotland travelled to Antigua, Baffin Bay, Bangladesh, Canada, India, New Zealand and Zambia; artists from Australia, Canada, India and Pakistan were on residency in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness.

Each artist worked with one of the five print studios on the development of ambitious and innovative new work in print, taking full advantage of the excellent range of resources, equipment and expertise available through each organisation.

Below another sky takes its name from the poem ‘Travel’, published in 1865 by the Edinburgh-born author Robert Louis Stevenson.

http://belowanothersky.org/