Rob Reynolds
PRESS RELEASE
Rob Reynolds: The Bohemian Disaster and Other Paintings
9 September – 14 October 2011
Opening reception: Thursday, 8 September, 6 to 8 pm*
Anthony Meier Fine Arts is pleased to present The Bohemian Disaster and Other Paintings, an exhibition of new work by Los Angeles based artist Rob Reynolds. Exhibiting at the gallery for the first time, Reynolds’ finely detailed paintings of shipwrecks and renderings of light, shadow and sky are layered with intellect, emotion and historical reference.
Debuting a series of works on canvas that sit squarely in the intersection of abstraction and representation, Reynolds’ imagery is derived in part from historical records and archives of maritime catastrophes. Focused on published records, largely reported and compiled by amateur historians, Reynolds plays these subjects against art historical movements such as minimalism and pop art.
Reynolds’ work is variously informed by his interest in the investigation of the painting support, color field painting and traits of American and Northern European regional maritime painting. The result is a surface hovering between intelligibility and pure materiality, referring to another time, while suggesting that much of what has happened before happens still.
Each painting includes text referring to a specific event or photo caption. The isolated words or phrases are at once informative and mysterious, many times in pun or double entendre with a kind of deadpan humor and tragic beauty that only serves to open the opportunity for viewer interpretation.
An artist-fabricated daybed, including books and artifacts, functions as equal parts fragment of the archive from which the body of work is derived, minimal sculpture and window seat and stems from the artist’s interest in transparent dialog with viewers and quiet contemplation.
*complimentary valet parking provided