Remembering rePROJECTIONS: Orensanz, Buñuel, and the Surreal Conversation That Still Echoes

In 2011, the Angel Orensanz Foundation hosted rePROJECTIONS during New York’s Armory Arts Week — a powerful installation that highlighted the artistic and philosophical connection between two visionaries: Ángel Orensanz and Luis Buñuel. Far from a simple tribute, the exhibit created a surreal space where sculpture, film, and memory interacted, evoking a sense of timeless creative dialogue.

Both Orensanz and Buñuel hail from the Aragon region of Spain, and their shared roots deeply influenced their artistic worldviews. Buñuel, a master of surrealist cinema, used film to question authority, religion, and societal norms. Orensanz, working in sculpture, installation, and performance, adopted similar themes, reshaping his historic New York studio — originally an 1840s synagogue — into a "scientific theater" where dream and reality merged. The installation presented both artists’ works in a surreal landscape, reanimating memory through visual storytelling and conceptual layering.

The relationship between Orensanz and Buñuel was more than aesthetic; it was ideological. Both artists believed in the power of imagination as a radical act. Buñuel once said, “Real artists move on alone, make their way alone and create alone,” a sentiment that Orensanz embodied through his solitary, introspective practice. His work — including Razor in the Eye, a sculptural reference to Buñuel’s infamous film Un Chien Andalou — reflected this deeply personal yet universal search for artistic truth.

Angel Orensanz’s installations, like Buñuel’s films, relied on surprise, contradiction, and the liberation of the subconscious. Their creative philosophies were influenced by the surrealist rejection of bourgeois rationalism in favor of emotional freedom and metaphysical exploration. The exhibition brought that ethos to life, encouraging viewers to step into a world where conventional logic gave way to poetic intuition.

As Dr. Al Orensanz observed, Ángel’s work carries “the corrosive tempo of the surrealist and Dadaist revolutions,” and frequently references Buñuel not merely in theme but in rhythm and force. Their shared spirit continues to resonate, reminding us that art still has the power to challenge, unsettle, and awaken.

By Derke Bentely

 Angel Orensanz Foundation, 172 Norfolk Street, NYC

 March 6–18, 2011

Image: Buñuel & Orensanz, courtesy of the Angel Orensanz Archive

Reference:

Dr. Orensanz, A. (2011). Exhibition Reflection: Angel Orensanz and the Surrealist Legacy. Angel Orensanz Foundation.