NEW YORK, NY.- Presented by Winsor Birch Ltd at Kate Oh Gallery, featuring Californian and New York subjects on canvas and paper by surrealist master Henry Orlik (b. 1947), absent from public discourse for over four decades. Following two sell-out shows in the UK in 2024, this is the first major selling show to take place in the US.

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Wall Street, New York City.

This exhibition coincides with the centenary of both the Surrealist movement and Theo Von Harbou’s 'Metropolis' (1G25), whose futuristic urban visions echo throughout Orlik's prophetic canvases.

📚 Explore the fantastical world of British Surrealism! Shop now on Amazon and uncover hidden gems.


Summer Crayon

The contemporary fascination with Surrealism has reached unprecedented heights, driven by the centenary of André Breton's Surrealist Manifesto (1924). This milestone has catalysed extraordinary international programming, notably the Centre Pompidou's landmark exhibition "Imagine! 100 Years of International Surrealism" featuring over 500 works, and Tate's major retrospective "Ithell Colquhoun: Between Worlds" spanning both St Ives and Britain locations. The market has responded spectacularly, with René Magritte's L'Empire des Lumières achieving $121.2 million at Christie's, Leonora Carrington's Les Distractions de Dagobert setting a record of $28.5 million at Sotheby's, and Salvador Dalí commanding exceptional prices across dedicated Surrealism sales. This commercial success parallels substantial scholarly publishing, including the definitive Centre Pompidou catalogue and specialised studies that deepen understanding of the movement's global influence. The convergence of celebratory exhibitions, record-breaking auction results, and new scholarship unequivocally demonstrates that interest in Surrealism is at an all-time high, reflecting the movement's enduring capacity to engage contemporary audiences a full century after its inception.


Winos in Central Park.

This is a fantastic and rare opportunity to see these visionary New York works that capture the soul of the city through a master's eyes.

A LOVE LETTER TO NEW YORK—PAINTED BY A VISIONARY WHO LIVED IT

For New Yorkers, this exhibition offers something unprecedented: your city through the eyes of an artist who lived, breathed, and channelled Manhattan's essence onto canvas and paper between 1980 and 1985. Many of these extraordinary works have never been publicly displayed together, having remained wrapped and sequestered in the artist's private archive for decades. Orlik's Wall Street apartment view became art, but more profoundly, New York itself took hold of him as an artist. The towering structures surrounding him pulsed with their fierce personalities—alive, imposing, and charged with an almost angry energy that demanded artistic response. These monolithic sentinels, with their relentless vertical ambition, stood in stark juxtaposition to Central Park's expansive refuge of greenery, oxygen, and contemplative space—a sylvan refuge that offered the artist essential respite and room for creative thought.


7th Avenue 1985.

These aren't just paintings about New York—they ARE New York, captured during one of its most transformative decades.

WITNESS ART HISTORY BEING MADE

An introverted and reclusive genius, Henry Orlik has emerged as one of the most extraordinary artistic discoveries of our time. Orlik is firmly independent and undoubtedly a visionary, who has remained largely withdrawn from public life for decades. At the outset of his career his works were exhibited alongside Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, and Max Ernst before he disengaged from the commercial art establishment, particularly art dealers and intermediaries he deemed exploitative. Now in fragile health, this exhibition may represent his final and only public presentation in America.

International media coverage by BBC News, The Guardian, The Times, The Smithsonian Magazine, Antiques Trade Gazette, and Artnet News has created a global cultural renaissance.


Subway New York.

You have the opportunity to see these masterpieces before private and institutional collectors acquire them.

MYSTERIOUS VISIONS AND PROFOUND ECHOES

Among the exhibition's most compelling works is "Fighting Skyscrapers”, painted in the early 1980s, depicting two towering structures locked in conflict beneath ominous clouds. For contemporary viewers, the painting evokes profound echoes that have captured the attention of art historians. Some observers have noted the work's haunting visual parallels to later events in New York's history. However, Orlik describes his art as emerging from "the subconscious realm where dreams and reality intersect."


Totem.

Featured works include:

• "Fighting Skyscrapers" - A captivating urban allegory exploring themes of conflict and power.

• "Wall Street, New York City" - The view from Orlik's Manhattan apartment, transformed.

• "Mermaid in Central Park" - Your beloved park reimagined as an enchanted realm.

• "Workers Rolling into NYC" - The daily commute elevated to mythic status

This exhibition marks the first time this cohesive body of urban work has been assembled for public viewing. Several works have never been publicly displayed, including significant canvases recovered from the artist's archive specifically for this American debut, creating an unprecedented opportunity to witness the complete scope of Orlik's New York period as a unified artistic statement.


The Eye on New York.

ARTISTIC PHILOSOPHY AND PARADIGMATIC METHODOLOGY

Like a priest, Orlik's devotion to painting is a spiritual calling that enables him to explore fate, evolution, memory, and urban iconography. His revolutionary "Ǫuantum Painting" employs thousands of "excitation" brushstrokes—spiralled marks that represent universal energy, making canvases pulsate with kinetic vitality.

Henry Orlik stands alone in terms of his art, subjects, and application of paint. These New York canvases are uniquely painted and emanate energy akin to subatomic dynamics, creating an unprecedented visual experience.

"Orlik's intense technique is unlike anything I've encountered in four decades working in the art world. His 'quantum' approach creates paintings that seem to vibrate with life itself." - Grant Ford, Exhibition Curator

During his New York years, Orlik experienced skyscrapers as living entities: "They are watching us... I can fight them on canvas." His "living line" technique functions like q — vital energy that "gives life and growth to nature." Each brushstroke reflects his emotional state: "If tired one cannot imitate energy... It has the sensitivity of a lie- detector."


Tombstones.

TRIUMPH OVER DEVASTATING LOSS

In 2022, a severe stroke left the now-fragile artist unable to paint, ending decades of reclusive creation. During his hospitalisation, he was evicted from his London apartment, where approximately one-third of his life's work was taken away. Working with our legal counsel and with the support of the Art Loss Register, we continue to investigate Henry Orlik’s missing paintings. Despite ongoing efforts and a £50,000 reward, these works remain missing. This devastating loss makes surviving work infinitely precious.

Your visit honours not only creative virtuosity but also irreplaceable remnants of a reclusive genius whose fragile condition makes this exhibition all the more poignant.

INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION AND MARKET RESPONSE

The Smithsonian Magazine, BBC, The Guardian, The Times, and Antiques Trade Gazette have covered Orlik's remarkable rediscovery. Following recent exhibitions, Orlik's works have appreciated significantly in value, with pieces sold in 2024 now commanding substantially higher prices.

The New York exhibition features works ranging from $8,000 to $1,000,000.


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