Rob Reger “The Encyclopedia of Hallucinations”
(Excerpts from 3 Chapters)
Chapter 9: The Exquisite Corpse
Chapter 11: Everything’s Connected
Chapter 13: Strange Fascination
September 2 - October 3
Opening Reception: Friday, September 2nd, 8-11 pm
La Luz de Jesus Gallery
4633 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90027
323-666-7667
www.laluzdejesus.com
info@laluzdejesus.com
Attendees will be asked to write a short description of what they see in Reger’s pantings. The best of these writings will be documented on the La Luz de Jesus website.
Mixing clean design with a pop culture neo-surrealist sensibility, the concept for Rob Reger’s “The Encyclopedia of Hallucinations” has its roots in Reger’s childhood camping trips when his father taught him to draw forms from a squiggle with a stick in dirt. The future artist and his father drew mainly faces, animals, and monsters and then created narratives from these figures.
As a result, Reger learned to experience pareidolia, to ‘find things in other things,’ a concept that is still with him to this day. “The Encyclopedia of Hallucinations” gives the viewer a glimpse into this visual and psychological practice that has become second nature in Reger’s own visions. Imagination is Rob’s inspiration, and though his suggestive abstract forms, Reger gives his viewers the freedom them to find their own visions. States the artist: “Looking back, I see this early experience as shaping my fascination with suggesting recognizable forms in abstract work and the tendency to personify forms and ‘find’ figures within general chaos. I inspire others, through specific forms that suggest forms, to use their imagination to find their own forms.”
Reger’s art aesthetic and his design house, Cosmic Debris, grew from a tangle of roots joining the DIY punk scene of the ‘80s with guerilla art, surrealism, and the psychedelic explosion of the ‘60s. As the founder, Creative Director, and President of Cosmic Debris, Reger introduced the world to Emily the Strange —an icon of empowerment for young alternative girls and outsiders of all ages. Like the little black-haired muse herself, Reger fuels his imagination with music, the natural environment, science and the artistic explorations of his friends and other inspiring figures.
Reger received a BFA from University of California, Santa Cruz and a MFA in printmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute. His oil paintings, printmaking, watercolors, and collage have exhibited in galleries around the world, including: Tokyo, Paris, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, Berlin, Milan, Hong Kong, Sydney, and Santa Cruz.
Images in order above:
"Tide Pools"
Cel-Vinyl Acrylic on panel 2011
"It Takes All Types" (detail)
Cel-Vinyl Acrylic on wood 2011
"One Informs The Other"
Cel-Vinyl Acrylic on panel 2011
"Who's The Boss?" (detail)
Cel-Vinyl Acrylic on panel 2011
