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EXHIBITION DATES January 5th- February 19th,
2006
Jesse Reichek's sources for the 223
works in this series,
done between 1990 and 1994, were
CREATION MYTHS
For Jesse
Reichek his painting was research on how to live. His interest in
structure and process led him to I Ching and Kabbalah.
(One of the earliest Kabbalah texts is the Sefer Yetzerah,
or The Book of Creation.) Creation myths describe the
original ordering of the uni verse—the cosmogony of creation.
Creation myths reflect how chaos becomes cosmos. The world's
creation myths reveal both common themes and wondrous variations—as
do these paintings. From 1990 through 1994 Reichek studied the
world's myths of creation. By immersing himself in the stories of
existence, Reichek continued his inquiry into the relationship of
structure and process, a theme which occupied him for over fifty
years.
All cultures
have creation myths, born of a desire to understand the nature of
the world, though some are more interested in issues of creation
than others. American Indian and Australian aboriginals speak of
the natural origins of creation. Such themes emerge in the
Babylonian Emun Elish; the Chinese cosmic egg or the myth of
Pan-gu; the Indian Bhagavad Gita; the Buddhist mandala;
the Navaho sand drawings; and the Mayan Popu Vuh. In Biblical
Genesis there are nearly 50 references to myths of beginning,
most of which can be traced to Egyptian or Babylonian origins.
Reichek's
paintings do not seek to explain nor even to comment on a particular
myth. Rather, they are the result of engaging a myth—they are
responses, creations of the painter that continue the process of
creation. The birth of each painting is thus connected to the birth
of each myth, the birth of humanity, the origins of life, the
emergence of the uni verse, and that which was before. Intentionally
moving beyond his experience, his purpose was not to gain
understanding but to record the engagement. In his work Reichek
would pause at a sentence, at a phrase, at a story, and convey his
reactions in paint. The extraordinary variety of form and color,
imaginative expression, emotional exuberance and suggestive symbols
reveal the wondrous variety of the myths themselves and their
mysteries—revealing something of creation which raises the question
of our role in extending it.
Reichek's
paintings offer a visual encyclopedia of human spiritual emergence.
With each question, each story, each painting, each viewer, humanity
becomes a partner in creation.
Barry Weisberg
Chicago, Illinois, Nov. 2005
and
Rabbi James Brandt
Napa–Oakland, California, Nov. 2005
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The following photographs of the exhibition were taken by
Jonathan Reichek:
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JESSE
REICHEK RETROSPECTIVE --- PARTNERS IN CREATION
Works from
1947 to 2005
Creators Equity Foundation
2324 blake street • Berkeley, ca • 94704
PHONE: (510) 514-8188 • FAX: (510) 665-4893
email:
reichek@dslextreme.com
website address:
www.reichek.org
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