June 6, 2015

BIOGRAPHY OF VICTOR REYES

Born in Milwaukee, WI, painter Victor Reyes is inspired by the unspoken language of visual art. At a young age, Reyes found himself impressed by the ambiguity and mise-en-scène of the Coen brothers films, connecting with the atmospheric tension onscreen. He continued to grow aware of the art around him and became inspired by his mother’s taste for the decorative prints of Aubrey Beardsly and deeply stirred by the dark revealing world in Francis Bacon’s paintings.

Reyes is a thinking artist encouraged by his desire for life outside of the norm. After moving to Southern California in the early 1990’s, he discovered local graffiti on the walls of the city and was forever changed. The large urban masterpieces, bright colors, and typography activated REYES, now a painter with a graffiti name. The adventure making art on the streets became an exploration and daily exercise to draw, paint, and experiment. He saw through the class distinctions that dwell within the general population and how troubling and mundane that existence is.

After a move to San Francisco and years painting murals and engaging in personal art projects in the community, he started showing in the gallery. His pictoral sense and narrative conceptualization take form in a new repertoire, a language of painting he actually hopes does not have mass appeal though shown to the masses. A subtext to the city he inhabits, his work is a distinct voice within young American painting.

Reyes’ work has been commissioned by brands such as Louis Vuitton, Twitter, and Nike. In 2010, the San Francisco Chronicle featured a cover story about him called “Man of Letters on a Mission.” His paintings have been exhibited in Germany, Japan, Miami, New York and Los Angeles.

For Reyes, his work is simply the art of the unimplied.