Erik Reel

Gary Robert Meriweather Erik Reel (born December 16, 1952 - ), known as Erik ReeL, is an American painter and writer known for his improvisational, abstract painting with strong connections to the Northwest School of art, particularly Mark Tobey and George Tsutakawa. 
Initially writing art criticism for art magazines such as Vanguard, High Performance, and ArtExpress under the name Gary Reel, he later dropped his given first name and uses Erik ReeL [with a capital L] when exhibiting his visual art and for all writing on art and theatre after 1997.
== Early years and education ==
Erik Reel was born in Seattle to an aeronautics engineer and a mother trained in perceptual psychology. He attended Whitman College, majoring in Mathematics, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Washington, in art, including a study of sumi-e ink painting with George Tsutakawa. Upon graduating, ReeL taught color theory for 11 years. 
Starting in 1978, in Seattle, Reel wrote a weekly column on the arts and art reviews for the Bellevue Journal-American daily newspaper and wrote regularly for art magazines such as ArtExpress, High Performance, and Vanguard. 
== Visual art ==
Reel’s mature painting is improvisational, abstract, and layered, with a tendency to blur the distinction between drawing and painting. Reel alternated between figurative and abstract styles for much of his career before eliminating references to external reality altogether in 2009. This move has been interpreted as part of an ongoing critique of materialism with a certain ecological perspective. Hudak quotes Reel: ‘A lot of art reinforces materialism, but I’ve wanted to point to consciousness itself.” 
Arconi and others stress the role of cognitive psychology and mark-making in Reel’s work: “For ReeL, marking is a defining characteristic of the human and the primordial act of signification and meaning for human consciousness.” 
The art critic, Jae Carlsson, has suggested Reel’s painting points more toward processes in the physical world on either large [cosmological] or extremely small [sub-atomic] scales that cannot be seen directly by the human eye, a position also mentioned in a documentary film shot in 2014. Riehl, Sean (2014). "Visual Language of Erik ReeL". video documentary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebnSpnwSvl4 
Reel had his first museum solo exhibition at the Morris Graves Museum of Art in 2016 following an exhibition that included a room of ReeL’s art at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Santa Barbara in 2015. 
== Personal life ==
Reel resides with his wife, Rhonda P. Hill in Portland, Oregon. 
==In the media==
<youtube width="300" height="300">ebnSpnwSvl4</youtube>  
== References ==
==External links==
* Bio Statement – ERIK REEL
* Erik ReeL on linkedin
* Erik Reel at Frameworks - The Santa Barbara Independent
* Erik ReeL - Arts Ventura
* Erik Reel | Artist Profile with Bio - MutualArt
* Erik ReeL on facebook
* Erik ReeL bei artists24.net - Künstler, Kunst und Kunstwerke
Category:1952 births
Category:American painters
Category:American writers
Category:Whitman College alumni
Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni
Category:University of Washington alumni
Category:American people
Category:People from Seattle