The Paintings of Vivien M. Reh
about.
Vivien M. Reh is an experimental abstract expressionist painter, poet, and musician residing in Portland, OR.
updates.
9.6.19 - The Side Door - Portland, OR - Paintings can be seen at through September.
galleries.
bop.
bop or brain on paint is a series started in 2019. Exemplary of Vivien's experimental abstract expressionist style, the smaller paintings (11" x 14") are numbered, while the larger (16" x 20") paintings were given titles in reference to recurring themes within the thoughts and feelings of the artist. The titular painting 'brain on paint' is the largest (22" x 28") and most contrived painting of the series and is based on a poem by the same name, which predates the series:
brain on paint
falling into trapdoor mars stars
obscured by titanium tiles
phthalo builds broken dams
covered in sienna scabs
echoing ochre overcast eyes
drunk on quinacridone puddles
where diaphanous zinc bells
of cadmium crushed ribs
ring cobalt skin colored skies
napthol poured into cuts
seems I have hansa for hands
flowers.
The flower paintings were painted from 2017-2018. Entirely experimental, Vivien began pressing flowers in books and then between large wooden boards. Later in the series, a legitimate flower press was gifted to the artist. The earlier paintings were done on heavy weight paper scraps while the artist perfected their methods they also graduated to canvas paper. The artist experimented with different techniques to better preserve the color of the flowers, including how the flowers were pressed, what glue was used, and when/whether the paintings were varnished. Ultimately feeling constricted by the materials and saddened by the fading flowers, Vivien concluded the series shortly after writing the following poem:
dissociating in Cancer season
feeling fed up with flowers
exhausted by their growth
have you seen a petal less
perfect still I am perfectly
sick so let them rot in their
vases where we watch this
dispassionate death catch
up with our cuts
contact.
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