Reinhard Reitzenstein

The Forest at 4am

March 4, 2017 – March 25, 2017

The Olga Korper Gallery is pleased to present The Forest at 4AM, a solo exhibition of new drawings, sculpture, and video by Reinhard Reitzenstein. The show will be on view from March 4^th until March 25^th, the formal reception will be held Saturday, March 4^th from 2-5pm, and the artist will be present for every Saturday for the duration of the show.

In the latest series of Reinhard’s tree drawings, each image is composed entirely of the name of the tree represented in the work. Some of the drawings are comprised of up to 50,000 repetitions of the tree’s name. As Reinhard writes, he simultaneously speaks the name aloud. Each piece in effect becomes a tone poem echoing the name of the tree over and over many thousands of times.

Because of this process, the artist’s studio has come alive with the names of trees. As he simultaneously draws, writes, and intones, the production of each image becomes a personal performance. The finished pieces emerge at the end of these lengthy vocal repetitions that feel, to the artist, like incantations that give strength and support to the trees.

Reinhard’s bronze sculptures are organic hybrids, blending geometric formations with arboreal elements. As the two intermingle – mathematical with natural – each sculpture becomes a new object embodying a new state of being. Alvin Toffler wrote, “there are only interrelated variables, boundless in complexity.” Reinhard references this in his work, as he says: “reality is not composed of discrete or isolated building blocks but instead composed of complex webs of relationships, layered, interrelated and interdependent.”