Reinhard Reitzenstein – CCCA Canadian Art Database

Reinhard Reitzenstein

Reinhard Reitzenstein

Reinhard Reitzenstein RCA is an environmental sculptor. He creates works through which he investigates ways to unite and interconnect nature, culture, science, and technology. He works in different media and areas, sometimes with the help of volunteers, making installations and sculpture using different materials, including trees, large-scale drawings, prints and sound art. Following in the wake of earthworks sculptor Robert Smithson in 1969, who turned a tree on its head and stuck it in the ground, Reitzenstein transforms living trees into sculptures. Much of his work centres around the tree as an archetype for the self and the symbiotic relationship humans share with the forests of the world. The tree serves as a marker of the ravages upon, and attempts at reconciliation with nature, he believes. His work is said to illustrate the mechanisms with which trees not only stabilize and rejuvenate our environment but also our senses and our evolution as a species and to represent a desire for preservation of the environment. His work is in numerous public collections, among them the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Canada Council Art Bank, Art Gallery of Hamilton, University of Toronto, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Confederation Centre of the Arts, the Province of Ontario, and the University of Western Ontario. Reitzenstein has been an instructor in sculpture and interdisciplinary studies at the University of Guelph (1980-1998), at Brock University (1991-1994), Queen's University (1997), the Toronto School of Art (1998-2000) and Sheridan College (2000). He has served as the Head of the Sculpture Program in the Department of Art at the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Buffalo in Buffalo since 2000. His work is represented by the Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto and Indigo Art, Buffalo, New York.

Creator Id: 507
Social Media Link: Social Media Link
Web Site Link: Web Site Link
Virtual Collection: Original CCCA
Country of Birth: Germany
Year of Birth: 1949
City: Grimsby
Country: Canada
Type of Creator: Artist
Gender: Male
Mediums: audio, drawing, earthwork, installation, printmaking, sculpture
Add to List

Work by Reinhard Reitzenstein

No Title

Work ID: 313

Description: Installed on Top Sail Island, Sault Ste. Marie, summer 1987-88.

Measurements: 0.9048 x 2.088 x 2.088 m

Collection:

Date Made: 1987

Materials: trees inverted and peeled

Virtual Collection: Original CCCA

Displacement Viriditas

Work ID: 314

Description: Installed at The Art Gallery of Peterborough, 1992.

Measurements: 15.24 cm steel I beams

Collection:

Date Made: 1992

Materials: cedar tree uprooted and peeled; 6 in. steel I beams

Virtual Collection: Original CCCA

Compromiso Viriditas

Work ID: 315

Description: Installed at The Museum of Contemporary Art: Sofia Imber Caracas, Venezuela, 1992.

Measurements: 0.4176 x 1.218 x 0.3132 m

Collection:

Date Made: 1992

Materials: Carribean pine, 6 in. steel I beams.

Virtual Collection: Original CCCA

Memory Cell (view 2 of 2)

Work ID: 2075

Description: Installed at The Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto, 1993

Measurements: 0.522 x 1.74 x 2.088 m

Collection:

Date Made: 1993

Materials: steel arch, cedar trees, beeswax, rope, bronze wasp nest

Virtual Collection: Original CCCA

World Tree

Work ID: 316

Description: Installed at the Confederation Centre for the Arts, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

Measurements: 1.392 x 3.48 x 3.48 m

Collection:

Date Made: 1993

Materials: beeswax covered spruce tree, cedar tree discs, cups of spruce oil

Virtual Collection: Original CCCA

World Tree (The Grid)

Work ID: 2074

Description: Partial work installed at Concordia University, Montreal, November 1995.

Measurements: 1.392 x 3.48 x 3.48 m

Collection:

Date Made: 1993

Materials: beeswax covered spruce tree, cedar tree discs, cups of spruce oil

Virtual Collection: Original CCCA

Memory Cell (view 1 of 2)

Work ID: 317

Description: Installed at The Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto, 1993

Measurements: 0.522 x 1.74 x 2.088 m

Collection:

Date Made: 1993

Materials: steel arch, cedar trees, beeswax, rope, bronze wasp nest

Virtual Collection: Original CCCA

Memory Phantom (view 2 of 2)

Work ID: 2076

Description: Installed at Glendon Gallery, York University, Toronto, 1994.

Measurements: 1.392 x 0.522 x 0.696 m

Collection:

Date Made: 1994

Materials: Manitoba Maple tree, beeswax, rope, found piano, skylight

Virtual Collection: Original CCCA

Memory Phantom (view 1 of 2)

Work ID: 318

Description: Installed at Glendon Gallery, York University, Toronto, 1994.

Measurements: 1.392 x 0.522 x 0.696 m

Collection:

Date Made: 1994

Materials: Manitoba Maple tree, beeswax, rope, found piano, skylight

Virtual Collection: Original CCCA

Flowering Tree

Work ID: 319

Measurements: printed on inkjet printer and laminated

Collection:

Date Made: 1995

Materials: digital image captured from video; printed on inkjet printer and laminated; framed in wood frame

Virtual Collection: Original CCCA