To give their artists maximum exposure, the Raandesk Gallery finds appropriate spaces and events in which to exhibit their sculptures, paintings, drawings and photographs. Owner and Director Jessica Porter chose the bare brick walls of In Good Company, a Flatiron District firm offering work spaces for rent to women business owners, for a solo show of Reyes’ artwork. The show, “Feminine Continuity,” opened in February. Named by Porter for Reyes’ use of the female form, symbolic of creation, life cycles and nurturing, “Feminine Continuity” will remain on display through April 18.
The exhibition combines mixed-media paintings culled from several different series — spanning from 2000 to the present — depicting goddesses, microbes and texture gardens.
There is also a cluster of recent paintings that fall under what Reyes calls “urban impressionism.” Though she is still experimenting with the concept, what Reyes has worked out thus far evokes the man-made nature of city sidewalks and walls. She would like to push this investigation even farther afield, perhaps with the help of a grant. “I want to take it global,” she said.
In her Kew Gardens apartment, Reyes has carved out a small art studio where she prefers to work on the floor using acrylic paint, usually in a range of earth tones. She strives, quite literally, to introduce nature into her work. To add texture and build the surface into a low relief, she mixes in or directly applies a variety of collected materials: dried moss, jute twine, gravel, sand, pebbles and tree branches.
Because they often explore natural themes, Reyes said Latin American artists are among her strongest influences. Frida Kahlo and Rufino Tamayo, the Mexican painter and muralist, are particular favorites. She also listed Lucio Fontana, an Argentine-born Italian artist known for his manipulation of the canvas — namely by punctuating it with knife slashes — among her influences.
When Reyes speaks of her approach to making art, she uses the word “primitivism,” which she interprets as the universal need to reflect one’s world in art.
“It’s the compulsion to create,” she said. To create her six-foot tall piece “Female Fertility Figure,” she first cut a thin sheet of plywood supporting the seat of her father’s sofa. “The cushions probably sagged after that,” she said. “But I just had to make something.”
“Feminine Continuity” is on display at In Good Company, located at 16 W 23rd St. (4th floor) in Manhattan, through April 18. Hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Friday. For more information, e-mail info@raandeskgallery.com, or visit the artist’s Web site at www.carlaereyes.com.
|
|
