Wilbur M.'s profile
Having had 5 TIA strokes and also been hospitalized in 2013 and 2014 - I have only been able to make several new works of Fine Art during this period ... As I fear deaths arrival in 2015 I have been painting nearly 24 hours a day with only quick naps to rest or eat - to view the 2015 NEW works with TITLES & Size go to "HOME PAGE" of my Website www.WilburMReeling.com
Artist's Biography
Wilbur M. Reeling is an artist and painter, born in Baltimore, Maryland. He attended the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore, Maryland studying the fine arts of painting and drawing from 1964 - 1966 and 1969. At MICA he studied under the best, including famed painter Raoul Middleman, who taught him drawing, and Albert Sangiamo, (considered to be one of the best portrait and life-drawing teachers in the nation), for teaching both drawing and painting. One of his original Abstract instructors was Lila Katzen, who was also a student of Hans Hofmann, (who is one of the World’s most famous abstract painters and teachers at both his NYC and Provincetown schools in the 1950’s. Mrs. Katzen realized Wilbur Reeling's potential and took him under her wing to mentor. From that point on he excelled in abstraction. Under the tutelage of Lila Katzen, Reeling has become one of the long time dedicated explorers of the principles of pure abstraction.
His fine art studies at MICA and painting career was interrupted by the Vietnam War when he was drafted. Instead, Reeling enlisted in the US Army to attend and complete the US Army's Combat Motion Picture 35mm Cinematography School. He also attended and completed the Leica School of Photography in Wetzler, Germany. He served in Germany as a Painter, Artist and Cinematographer with the famous 69th Signal Photo Company and was honorably discharged. For an extended period Reeling remained in Western Europe and North Africa working in photography, film production and TV until he started suffering with a weakened diabetic condition and after 20 years, forced him to abandon the film and TV world and resumed his Painting Fine Art and painting career in Baltimore, Maryland. His most recent works synthesize his interest in the first generation of Abstract Expressionists with his paintings and style compared to the works of Jackson Pollack, Joan Miró, and Wassily Kandinsky.
Currently he paints and resides in both Canton and Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Among his painting exhibitions are The American Contemporary Gallery, Annapolis, Maryland. ~ The Ralls Collection, Washington D.C. ~ Beverly Libby Gallery "B" Tula Art Center, Atlanta, Georgia ~ Delaplaine Art Gallery, Mount Saint Mary's College, Emmitsburg, Maryland ~ The Walter's Art Museum, BisTroia ~ The InterContinental Hotel, Harbor Court 5 Star Gallery Baltimore Inner Harbor, Baltimore, Maryland ~ Galerie d'art TH?S Passy Trocadéro, Paris, France ~ Mt. Vernon Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland ~ MICA Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, Maryland. His work has been published in ArtNews, Art in America, Washington DC Paper, Art Business News, The Baltimore Sun and Style Magazine. His paintings are in many private and corporate collections.
Artist's Statement
In my art I have endeavored to develop a unique style, communicating the marking of the surface as cerebral, emotional thought as a form. It is this emotional link that makes art worth creating. My unique style is one that may have been similarly observed by quotes of the works of other famous abstract expressionists such as the dripping art of Jackson Pollock, in the more precise drawing of shapes by Joan Miró, or the Theorist Abstract Art of Wassily Kandinsky, but never a duplication of any other artist's search for truth and substance in my own completely original art.
My Abstract art is an alternative way for me to express my visual language of form, color and line to create a composition that places greater emphasis on a visual sensation than on a depiction of recognizable, realistic objects. The paintings are well thought out and as I look at the blank surface that I am about to embark upon, I am able to visualize the completed art before beginning to paint. There are no photographs, sketches or drawings to guide me, just my thoughts. The smaller, 22 x 30 inch, pieces require an average of about 40 working hours to complete. Most of my painting is done using pigmented paints that I hand grind and mix with special mediums to form my own unique color palette. When completed, my full signature is added to each painting as legal proof of its originality and ownership. I also add my artist’s original Chop Mark and my hand made, hand pressed embossed Chinese calligraphy ideogram symbol of “Guang”, meaning to ramble, in which first generation Abstract Expressionists saw calligraphic fluidity of great poetic suggestiveness. As I consider myself a third generation Abstract artist, my art has contained this symbol since January 1, 2000, when my artistic language was recognized by Daniel C. Nusbaum, Ph.D., Director of the Delaplaine Gallery.
Abstraction itself has been my subject matter for decades. Not an easily understood expression of painting, the observers must be able to comprehend and struggle for meaning in what is said, what is implied, and what is never completely described. In my work I strive to satiate the uncomplicated visual senses as well as complex intellectual challenges of all who observe, whether a layperson or potentate. An individual can enjoy the beauty of my art without being able to read it. Every time one revisits my work, the conversation continues with new meanings, new depths, new answers and discovery.
Searching for my artist's voice through the struggle of self-discovery and using a unique style of painting, my objective has been to transmit my expression for the observer to visualize my experience and to share my same feelings … like déjà vu for the viewer. I strive to communicate the complexities of mind and spirit in a way that pushes the viewers' perceptions inward in order for them to consider a never explored direction.
Artist's Biography
Wilbur M. Reeling is an artist and painter, born in Baltimore, Maryland. He attended the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore, Maryland studying the fine arts of painting and drawing from 1964 - 1966 and 1969. At MICA he studied under the best, including famed painter Raoul Middleman, who taught him drawing, and Albert Sangiamo, (considered to be one of the best portrait and life-drawing teachers in the nation), for teaching both drawing and painting. One of his original Abstract instructors was Lila Katzen, who was also a student of Hans Hofmann, (who is one of the World’s most famous abstract painters and teachers at both his NYC and Provincetown schools in the 1950’s. Mrs. Katzen realized Wilbur Reeling's potential and took him under her wing to mentor. From that point on he excelled in abstraction. Under the tutelage of Lila Katzen, Reeling has become one of the long time dedicated explorers of the principles of pure abstraction.
His fine art studies at MICA and painting career was interrupted by the Vietnam War when he was drafted. Instead, Reeling enlisted in the US Army to attend and complete the US Army's Combat Motion Picture 35mm Cinematography School. He also attended and completed the Leica School of Photography in Wetzler, Germany. He served in Germany as a Painter, Artist and Cinematographer with the famous 69th Signal Photo Company and was honorably discharged. For an extended period Reeling remained in Western Europe and North Africa working in photography, film production and TV until he started suffering with a weakened diabetic condition and after 20 years, forced him to abandon the film and TV world and resumed his Painting Fine Art and painting career in Baltimore, Maryland. His most recent works synthesize his interest in the first generation of Abstract Expressionists with his paintings and style compared to the works of Jackson Pollack, Joan Miró, and Wassily Kandinsky.
Currently he paints and resides in both Canton and Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Among his painting exhibitions are The American Contemporary Gallery, Annapolis, Maryland. ~ The Ralls Collection, Washington D.C. ~ Beverly Libby Gallery "B" Tula Art Center, Atlanta, Georgia ~ Delaplaine Art Gallery, Mount Saint Mary's College, Emmitsburg, Maryland ~ The Walter's Art Museum, BisTroia ~ The InterContinental Hotel, Harbor Court 5 Star Gallery Baltimore Inner Harbor, Baltimore, Maryland ~ Galerie d'art TH?S Passy Trocadéro, Paris, France ~ Mt. Vernon Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland ~ MICA Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, Maryland. His work has been published in ArtNews, Art in America, Washington DC Paper, Art Business News, The Baltimore Sun and Style Magazine. His paintings are in many private and corporate collections.
Artist's Statement
In my art I have endeavored to develop a unique style, communicating the marking of the surface as cerebral, emotional thought as a form. It is this emotional link that makes art worth creating. My unique style is one that may have been similarly observed by quotes of the works of other famous abstract expressionists such as the dripping art of Jackson Pollock, in the more precise drawing of shapes by Joan Miró, or the Theorist Abstract Art of Wassily Kandinsky, but never a duplication of any other artist's search for truth and substance in my own completely original art.
My Abstract art is an alternative way for me to express my visual language of form, color and line to create a composition that places greater emphasis on a visual sensation than on a depiction of recognizable, realistic objects. The paintings are well thought out and as I look at the blank surface that I am about to embark upon, I am able to visualize the completed art before beginning to paint. There are no photographs, sketches or drawings to guide me, just my thoughts. The smaller, 22 x 30 inch, pieces require an average of about 40 working hours to complete. Most of my painting is done using pigmented paints that I hand grind and mix with special mediums to form my own unique color palette. When completed, my full signature is added to each painting as legal proof of its originality and ownership. I also add my artist’s original Chop Mark and my hand made, hand pressed embossed Chinese calligraphy ideogram symbol of “Guang”, meaning to ramble, in which first generation Abstract Expressionists saw calligraphic fluidity of great poetic suggestiveness. As I consider myself a third generation Abstract artist, my art has contained this symbol since January 1, 2000, when my artistic language was recognized by Daniel C. Nusbaum, Ph.D., Director of the Delaplaine Gallery.
Abstraction itself has been my subject matter for decades. Not an easily understood expression of painting, the observers must be able to comprehend and struggle for meaning in what is said, what is implied, and what is never completely described. In my work I strive to satiate the uncomplicated visual senses as well as complex intellectual challenges of all who observe, whether a layperson or potentate. An individual can enjoy the beauty of my art without being able to read it. Every time one revisits my work, the conversation continues with new meanings, new depths, new answers and discovery.
Searching for my artist's voice through the struggle of self-discovery and using a unique style of painting, my objective has been to transmit my expression for the observer to visualize my experience and to share my same feelings … like déjà vu for the viewer. I strive to communicate the complexities of mind and spirit in a way that pushes the viewers' perceptions inward in order for them to consider a never explored direction.
