Michael Reafsnyder
MICHAEL REAFSNYDER
12 October - 11 November 2017
Selected Works
Press Release
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – AMERINGER | McENERY | YOHE is pleased to announce an exhibition of recent paintings by Michael Reafsnyder. The exhibition will open 12 October and remain on view through 11 November 2017. A public reception for the artist will be held on 12 October from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with essays by Michelle Grabner and David Pagel.
Using a range of techniques, Michael Reafsnyder creates riotous paintings that simmer and churn with an intense energy. Smooth swipes of a palette knife meet kinetic splotches and splatters, forming dense accumulations of acrylic paint. Smiley faces and playful doodles squeezed straight from the tube emerge from this visual maelstrom, further amplifying the innate joy found in his canvases.
At first glance, Reafsnyder’s raucous surfaces present an almost overwhelming level of visual stimulation that is impossible to digest in an instant. After looking at a painting long enough, things begin to settle into something resembling a pattern—repeated arrangements appear in ways that feel familiar and recognizable. The works are also marked by a distinct spatial complexity, with blotches of paint seeming to break through or hover above the picture plane.
Though Reafsnyder’s paintings are hard to pin down, there is a delight in their elusiveness. His saturated palette and the organized chaos of his gestures demonstrate his unbridled enthusiasm and unscripted physicality. As David Pagel notes, “Rather than making works with predetermined meanings, he makes paintings that misbehave like nobody’s business, generating experiences whose consequences depend on what each of us makes of them.”
MICHAEL REAFSNYDER (b. in 1969 in Orange, CA) received his Bachelor of Arts degree in studio art at Chapman University in Orange, CA in 1992 and his Master of Fine Arts degree at the Arts Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA in 1996.
He has had numerous exhibitions nationally and internationally. Solo exhibitions include, “Sunday Best,” Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Culver City, CA; “Delight,” Marty Walker Gallery, Dallas, TX; “Fresh,” W.C.C.A., Singapore; “More: Paintings and Sculpture from 2002-2005,” Las Vegas Art Museum, Las Vegas, NV; “Yum-Yum,” Uplands Gallery, Melbourne, Australia; and “Paintings,” Galeria Marta Cervera, Madrid, Spain
Recent group exhibitions include “Works of Paper II,” ACME., Los Angeles, CA; “Recent Acquisitions,” Barrick Museum, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV; “Paths and Edges: Celebrating the Five-Year Anniversary of the Escalette Collection,” Guggenheim Gallery, Chapman University, Orange, CA; “Floor Flowers,” Peggy Phelps Gallery, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA; and “Keramik,” Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, CA.
His work may be found in the permanent collections of the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH; Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA; Las Vegas Art Museum, Las Vegas, NV; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR; and Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA, among others.
Michael Reafsnyder lives and works in Southern California.
