In this painting entitled Wipscape, Santa Cruz Mountains, the splendour of the American landscape, the natural world, is at odds with the primary focus within the painting, the burnt gnarled carcass of the tree painted in an unworldly red against the backdrop of a vivid glowing sunset.
Joe Reihsen was born in 1979 in Minnesota, United States, he lives and works in Los Angeles. After 20 years of working in abstraction Reihsen felt compelled to reflect directly on nature, over the last 10 years, wildfires have become more and more of a constant menace in the artist's home state of California. In this painting entitled Wipscape, Santa Cruz Mountains, the splendour of the American landscape, the natural world, is at odds with the primary focus within the painting, the burnt gnarled carcass of the tree painted in an unworldly red against the backdrop of a vivid glowing sunset. The painting has a classical lineage, the use of chiaroscuro, the shaped canvas, the untamed wilderness echoing past rich traditions of landscape painting throughout the centuries.
Reihsen however is very much an artist of our time. The flat painterly surface has an element of contemporary hyperrealism, the tree itself creating line, shape, and structure, whilst being a painting in the true sense it has the feel of the digital, mixed with the photographic, Reihsen is a master of his craft and forever pushing the limits of his medium.
Joe Reihsen attended the San Francisco Art Institute, CA and received a BFA for Painting and New Genres in 2005, and an MFA at the University of California in Santa Barbara, CA in 2008. His works can be found in many notable collections.
Joe Reihsen
Wipscape, Santa Cruz Mountains, 2021
Acrylic and volcanic ash on canvas over panel
152 x 119 cm (60 x 47 inches)
