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EXHIBITION: 10 October - 15 November, 2008
ARTIST RECEPTION: 10 October - 6p to 9p
IMAGE GALLERY COMING SOON
At the heart of Andrew Reach, there will always be an architect. But his path took a strange and difficult turn and he was severed from his profession as an architect just as construction began on his last building as Project Architect for the Frost Art Museum in Miami. Little did he know at the time that his journey would lead to making art as his path to creative liberation.
Reach suffers from a disease of the spine known as Scheuermann's Kyphosis, a form of scoliosis where the spine curves forward. Over the years, his curvature worsened to the point that his internal organs were impacted and surgery was required. His first surgery, in January 2003, involved a multi-level spinal fusion assisted by rods and screws to correct the curvature. This fusion comprised more than two thirds of his spine. About a year and a half after the surgery, he had a rare complication called Spondylolisthesis. As his surgeon explained it to him in lay terms, "Your head is falling off your spine." He would require another complex surgery extending the rods and screws to structurally pull the spine back into alignment. This second surgery was performed in November 2004.
Feeling marooned while lying in a hospital bed and falling deeper into despair, Bruce Baumwoll, his partner of 28 years, encouraged him to try and create art on the computer during the limited time he could sit upright. He began teaching himself Photoshop so that he could have an outlet for his pent-up creativity. This was the beginning of an odyssey of self awareness and personal expression that continues in his work today.
Reach chose the digital medium out of necessity, because the act of painting would be too physical. Reach's many interests inhabit the large format digital prints and his partner, Baumwoll, collaboratively print at home. Utilizing the latest in digital printing technology, he creates large format archival prints, at sizes up to 90 inches long, in some instances consisting of biological references to his body in the form of abstracted vertebra forms, and further at the cellular level, as he imagines his connective tissue being the source of debilitating pain he still suffers from.
Many of Reach's interests including 20th century modern art, eastern traditions, Buddhist Mandalas, Sufi Whirling Dervishes, Islamic patterns and African art become transformed through the lens of his chosen digital medium. His imagination having traveled inwards also travels outwards in the unique worlds of Reach's imagination. Many works include his carefree 'Whimsies': unencumbered beings free of the constraints of gravity. They represent an escape hatch -- an alternative place for Reach to inhabit, free from his battles with his body. Behind all of his lies the biggest reward for Andrew Reach: to be able to inspire others and bring attention to the power of art not only to enrich our lives, but to heal them as well.
Andrew Reach's art has been exhibited in solo and international juried exhibitions in Miami; New York; Burlington, Vermont; San Francisco; and Chicago.
Curriculum Vitae for Andrew Reach
Cleveland Plain Dealer Andrew Reach Feature - Finding Freedom
Miami New Times Andrew Reach Feature - The Human Condition
