Christopher Reiger

Featured Image:  "submerged in his erotic mystification"

Background Story on Image:
My paintings are celebratory hybrids of myth, natural history, and science; the world pictured stretches between the tidy "truth" and the messy question. They depict a world in flux, a Nature imploding and dissolving. But this dissolution is also an opening of the senses, the seepage of magic and mystery into the picture.

Location:
San Francisco, CA

Artist Specialty:
Painter and writer

Website:
Portfolio website: http://www.christopherreiger.com/
Blog: http://www.hungryhyaena.blogspot.com/
 

Background:
Originally from rural Virginia, Christopher Reiger is an artist and writer currently living and working in New York City.  He attended the College of William and Mary (B.A. Studio Arts, 1999) in Williamsburg, Virginia, before moving north.  Since graduating from the MFA program at the School of Visual Arts in 2002, he has participated in many solo and group exhibitions.  Artwork can be seen at his website (http://www.christopherreiger.com) and essays on art, ecology, natural history, philosophy, and theology can be read at Hungry Hyaena (http://hungryhyaena.blogspot.com).

Artist Conservation Statement
I feel strongly that art is no less vital today than it was millennia ago, when our ancestors painted on the walls of the caves that sheltered them. The best contemporary art still inspires empathy, induces catharsis, elevates our spirit, and feeds our hearts and minds. But the relationship between art-making and human experience is complicated by economics. For over 2,000 years, art has been assigned a monetary or barter value. Given this long-established correlation, it is naive to decry the commodification of art; the artist, after all, must earn a living. But too often art is principally understood as an investment and the art world as an arm of the greater luxury market.

As a result, artworks are reduced to status symbols, brands traded to display the owner's wealth and social rank. As an artist and writer, I am deeply troubled by this warped appraisal of art's elemental value.  I am compelled to create artwork, but I am also committed to volunteerism and community participation. I contribute to non-profit groups and volunteer for conservation and social service projects, but my sustained happiness requires so much time in the studio as to preclude significant action in other spheres. 

In the fall of 2008, I decided to contribute a significant percentage of every art sale to non-profit organizations that are working to redress environmental and social ails.  By generating money for important causes through the sale of my artwork, I can act in proxy; the long hours in the studio can be connected to the spirit of the art and to the greater community. This charitable sales model is a concrete metaphor for the emotional and intellectual sustenance provided by the artwork itself.