Visit with Devon Reina
In his two-person exhibition at Uprise Art, Abscissa, Devon Reina contemplates the line between chaos and order with works that abstract the geometric framework they're built upon.
Devon’s works begin with a set of rules relative to the square format of his canvases. Dividing the surface into a precise pencil grid, he begins demarcating the surface with wax pastel, following a pattern dictated by self-directed prompts. The wax pastel is then manipulated with water, causing the finite drawn lines to bleed and merge with one another, staining the canvas and disrupting his systematic line work.
The square canvas serves as my fundamental constraint, deliberately chosen to challenge both myself and my creative process. This choice aims to push my work away from arbitrary decisions, encouraging composition and content dependent upon the edge of a canvas.
Devon Reina
This painterly unpredictability foregrounds the importance of Reina’s material-guided practice, where form and composition are established by the innate qualities of the materials themselves. Boundaries are constructed, collapsed, and then built again, with the interrelation of color and line creating new relationships.
My work is a product of my curiosity in the development and design of art-making systems carried out by the body. I'm fascinated by the potential of parameters, seeing them as fertile grounds for discovery, creation, and exploration of the unknown.
Devon Reina
