Winter Park artist/architect Richard Reep, AIA explores the future through painting, drawing, assemblage and instillation in URBAN INTRIGUE: RICHARD REEP at Lake Eustis Museum of Art with an artist’s talk/reception scheduled from 1 – 3 p.m. May 16. The exhibit with be available for view May 13 through June 6, 2010 at 200 B East Orange Ave.
Reep melds spirit, space, art and science into imagined futures. An international authority on urban studies, art and architecture, he transforms the remains of our day into enduring, moving fine art. His careful observation of science and current trends inspires Reep and drives him to make “connections between the obvious and the overlooked or between two separate or distinct phenomena,” he says.
“I try to remain open to influences within my environment. Most often the art begins to come out without a specific agenda or recognizable velocity, but rather is an experimental statement that either succeeds or fails. My architecture practice revolves around a strong environmental and social ethic to make buildings that improve the environment.I have always approached my art the same way, using construction waste or repurposed material,” Reep says.
He experiences a “push-pull” between art and architecture and wrote his master’s thesis at the University of Florida on evolution in the display of art out of utilitarian objects to stand alone and independent. Ultimately, Reep was led to design an art museum that blends the art into a city.
“Architecture overlaps considerably with art and the great classical movements,” says Reep, who is influenced by master artist/architects Michelangelo and DaVinci, as well as 20th century artists Duchamp, Rothko, Rauschenberg, Joseph Cornell and Joseph Beuys. “It was only in the modern era that art and architecture seemed to split apart in two separate paths,” he says.
Most of Reep’s art evolves from research and expresses his fascination with our urban future and the changing nature of living space due to the Internet and climate and economic shifts. He sees and draws abandoned oil rigs as tomorrow’s cities as existing cities become uninhabitable.
Reep teaches art and design at Maitland Art Center, Rollin College and in corporate settings.
Lake Eustis Museum of Art is open 10am – 4pm Tuesday through Friday and from noon – 4pm weekends. Non-member adults are asked to make a $5 donation to enter the gallery.