Mario Reis

German, b. 1953

Nature Watercolor, Logan River
1998

Watercolor with sediment and pigments on canvas
72 x 72 in. (182.88 x 182.88 cm)
Gift of Stephanie Lucci and Museum Purchase with Charter Member Endowment Fund and Anonymous
1999.50

Mario Reis is renowned for his unusual technique of watercolor painting. He covers a square wooden stretcher with untreated canvas, tethers the stretcher to a river bank, and then submerges it into the river, letting it float and bob as water deposits natural pigments and sediments on the canvas. Inspired by the environmental art movement, Reis developed this technique in Paris in the 1970s and has visited rivers around the world, thereby preserving global waterways in his sparse yet beautiful paintings.

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This object was included in the following exhibitions:

• ARTsySTEM: The Changing Climates of the Arts and Sciences , 3/19/2015 - 8/1/2015
• Growing West: Exploring Art in Agriculture , 3/15/2016 - 5/7/2016