Carla E. Reyes is a painter and mixed media collage artist who creates low relief, sculptural and textural paintings. She is interested in the process of art making as a primitive and visceral experience; a ritualistic compulsion shared by humankind since its origins. She is visually inspired by the colors and textures of nature, early works of art and decoration, and the interaction between natural and -man-made surfaces. Through texture, abstract form, and -image, she explores and alludes to the fundamental -elements and mysteries of nature and existence: impermanence, decay, regeneration, birth, growth, history, archeology and spirituality. Carla creates representational as well as abstract images- visualizing a particular form or motif, but allowing the creative process and chosen materials to dictate the end result. Collage materials may include branches, leaves, sand, and pebbles, among others. She enjoys working on the floor; creating a more physical interaction with the work, and also builds her own handmade shaped canvases.
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“My work is about the basic need to create and using the senses we are given to mirror and interpret the world around us and express our unconscious- to leave something tangible behind to know we are real and that what we experience has substance and a context. The natural elements are used as a way to physically connect with our purest origin- which is nature. Sometimes being reconnected with nature- however contrived or limited can bring us back to who we really are in a primal way. The textures allow for a more sensual experience for the artist and the viewer- encouraging the use of all the senses through feel, touch, depth, as well as visual absorption. We only know we exist through our sensory experiences.”
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Carla graduated from F.I.T., NYC, in 2002 with a BFA in Restoration and Fine Arts. She has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in NYC and along the East Coast in commercial galleries, non-profit and alternative spaces. She has been featured in The New York Times, the Queens Chronicle, BBC World News, and more.
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In addition to her fine art pursuits, she designs custom surfaces for architects and designers of commercial interiors for a Long Island City, Queens, interior products manufacturer, and manages their decorative finishing studio; the studio @ DFB. She also has her own freelance interior finishing and decorative craft business: carlacrafts. She has a scenic art background, as well, having studied at the Studio School of Stage Design in Jersey City, and painted sets for numerous regional theaters and scenery shops in the Northeast. She has also studied ceramics and pottery throwing at the 92nd Street Y, NYC, and the Potter’s Wheel, Kew Gardens, Queens. She is currently working toward a Color Specialist certification at F.I.T., NYC.
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Art dealers -
Raandesk Gallery of Art – NYC:
www.raandeskgallery.com
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Leche-Vitrines Art Alliance – Ft. Lauderdale:
www.lechevitrinesart.com
