Jack is Back! Balancing Act Paintings By Jack Reilly

BALANCING ACT: PAINTINGS BY JACK REILLY
September 16 – December 2, 2016
Wednesday through Sunday, Noon to 4:00 pm
California Museum of Art Thousand Oaks (CMATO)

Thousand Oaks. “My personal investigation into life deals with the human condition of trying to find a sense of balance that seems to exist between polar extremes – that the human condition is to attempt to find a sense of balance between these polarities -this balance is a metaphor of life.” – Jack Reilly, speaking about his art.

Jack Reilly (b. 1950 -), widely recognized as a trailblazer in the Abstract Illusion Movement, a style where paintings ‘bend the eye’ to achieve three-dimensionality on a two-dimensional surface, returns to Southern California for a concise but stirring re-evaluation of his artistic production.

In 1980, Reilly burst into L.A. with his solo show at the indomitable Molly Barnes Gallery (a tastemaker who gave early shows to John Baldessari, Billy Al Bengston and Gronk). This formative exhibition helped to cement Reilly’s reputation of creating visually powerful and unique works of art – works that converge abstract expressionistic boldness, minimalist restraint with trompe l’oeil wonderment. As Suzanne Muchnic, Los Angeles Times art critic, observed, “He does offer immediate pleasure in carefully orchestrated compositions, meticulous technique, complexity of shadows and ambiguity of light source.”

Impressed by Reilly’s unique style exhibited at the Barnes Gallery, Donald Brewer (then Director of LA’s the first museum -USC’s Fisher Gallery) quickly arranged for Reilly to be a featured artist for The Reality of Illusion, a national traveling exhibition (Denver Art Museum, Oakland Museum, Johnson Museum at Cornell, and USC Fisher Gallery). From then on, there was no looking back – Reilly’s prolific artistic output has resulted in numerous public commissions, domestic and international exhibitions, and his works are in the permanent collection of several museums throughout the country.

CMATO is pleased to announce that Molly Barnes will be the moderator for the Jack Reilly art talk. Barnes is a well-recognized New York and Los Angeles gallery owner and art critic, radio talk show host, author, and a professor at the Otis College Art and Design Institute MFA program. She discovers and supports emerging artists.

The Jack Reilly Gallery Talk is on Monday, September 19 at 7:00 pm at the CMATO Exhibition Center.

As the CMATO exhibition will show, Reilly’s works are bright, clean and constrained by geometry but not artistic convention. Although the Getty Museum’s Pacific Standard Time exhibition (2012) solidified Reilly’s place in the zeitgeist of the 80’s – an era of extremes, political movements, the beginning of globalization- do not be mistaken in thinking his works are out of time with our age. His works are perpetual manifestations of an artist’s investigation of the human condition – an ageless inquiry into the nature of our being.

Balancing Act: Paintings by Jack Reilly complement CMATO’s permanent installation of Betty Gold’s sculptures.

Opening Reception: Thursday, September 15, 2016, 6:00 – 8:00 PM, at CMATO, 1948 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, CA 91362.

Artful Angles – a free drop-in family art making program will focus on the artful side of geometry. This hands-on art activity is based on the California Common Core State Standards for Mathematics and is geared for children aged from 8 – 11 years old.

Using the art of collage and mosaic, math concepts focusing on geometric shapes, proportion and symmetry will be taught by an experienced elementary school teacher. Artful Angles is inspired by the MADI art movement, an art movement that broadly focuses on Movement, Abstraction, Dimension and Invention.

Artful Angles, will take place one Sunday of each month of the exhibition from 11:00 am– 2:00 pm. (September 25, October 16, and November 13, 2016).

For additional information about the CMATO Exhibition, Gallery Talk and Family Art Program contact Tish Greenwood, Executive Director, at (805) 405-5240 or info@cmato.org.

The California Museum of Art Thousand Oaks is a non-profit organization committed to serving diverse audiences through the exhibition, interpretation, and exploration of the fine and design arts. CMATO is committed to educating the community about the visual arts and dedicated to establishing a premier art museum that will serve Ventura County and surrounding communities.

California Museum of Art Thousand Oaks ▪ Website: www.cmato.org
CMATO Operations Center ▪ 1948 Thousand Oaks Blvd. ▪ Thousand Oaks, CA 91362