Creation

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EXHIBITION DATES June 29–August 13th, 2006

Jesse Reichek's source for the 117 works in this series,
done between 1988–1990, was the

SONG OF SONGS
one painting for each line of the poem

The year-long Reichek Retrospective, containing nearly 2,000 of the 3,000 paintings produced between 1947–2005, closes with The Song of Songs, also known as the Song of Solomon. Written about 2,300 years ago, this is the first book of the Five Scrolls of the Hebrew Bible. It is full with words used but once, with obscure meanings, with riddles—much like the I Ching, the Kaballah, and the world's myths. No other book of the Hebrew Bible has elicited such a variety of interpretations. This dialectic was surely part of its appeal to Reichek.

The poem is set in springtime in the city of Jerusalem. But this is no typical love story with a proper beginning and ending. It is a poem about erotic love and sexual attraction, about human pleasure, with no reference to any higher being. Eros before adulteration with Agape. Secular love. Unlike the Garden of Eden, which promises a future satisfaction, the Song of Songs celebrates the satisfaction of the lovers in the moment. The acts of Eros between humans, as partners in creation, and partners in paradise. The morphology of pure pleasure.

The paradise of Jesse and Laure Reichek included painting. The paintings, like the poem, rely on metaphor more than literal expression. The paintings, like the poem, offer a naïve picture of love, a fresh embrace, a richness of imagination, and an unrestrained expression. The paintings, like the poem, offer both locks and keys to creation. The passion of life's structures and processes in painting.

Love not as a burden but as unrestrained pleasure. Lovers who love as equals. Painting and poem. Painter and viewer. In this poem, the love of the lovers requires no blessing or sanctification. The paintings require no title or explanation.

Reichek's entire work of painting, as was his life, is offered to us as a lover, without restraint and without coercion. It presents a deep inquiry into the realms of imagination and creation that resist and defy explanation. These are the fruits of Reichek's garden, his "mountains of spices." So it was for Reichek, the way of a man who became a partner in creation.

Before he died Jesse placed a banner in his studio proclaiming the connection to Laure, "Made Possible by Laure." Those of us who have attended these exhibitions can say to Jesse and Laure, none of this astounding engagement with the great human inquiries would have been possible without the both of you.

The Retrospective ends with a tribute to love and love is our tribute to Jesse Reichek.

Barry Weisberg,
Chicago, Illinois, June 2006

and

Rabbi James Brandt
Napa—Oakland, California, Nov. 2005

Click on the thumbnail images below to view at full size.

Song of Songs — text from the Marvin Pope edition of Song of Songs

Book I: verse 1	Book I: verse 2	Book I: verse 3	Book I: verse 4	Book I: verse 5
Book I: verse 6	Book I: verse 7	Book I: verse 8	Book I: verse 9	Book I: verse 10
Book I: verse 11	Book I: verse 12	Book I: verse 13	Book I: verse 14	Book I: verse 15
Book I: verse 16	Book I: verse 17	Book II: verse 1	Book II: verse 2	Book II: verse 3
Book II: verse 4	Book II: verse 5	Book II: verse 6	Book II: verse 7	Book II: verse 8
Book II: verse 9	Book II: verse 10	Book II: verse 11	Book II: verse 12	Book II: verse 13
Book II: verse 14	Book II: verse 15	Book II: verse 16	Book II: verse 17	Book III: verse 1
Book III: verse 2	Book III: verse 3	Book III: verse 4	Book III: verse 5	Book III: verse 6
Book III: verse 7	Book III: verse 8	Book III: verse 9	Book III: verse 10	Book III: verse 11
Book IV: verse 1	Book IV: verse 2	Book IV: verse 3	Book IV: verse 4	Book IV: verse 5
Book IV: verse 6	Book IV: verse 7	Book IV: verse 8	Book IV: verse 9	Book IV: verse 10
Book IV: verse 11	Book IV: verse 12	Book IV: verse 13	Book IV: verse 14	Book IV: verse 15
Book IV: verse 16	Book V: verse 1	Book V: verse 2	Book V: verse 3	Book V: verse 4
Book V: verse 5	Book V: verse 6	Book V: verse 7	Book V: verse 8	Book V: verse 9
Book V: verse 10	Book V: verse 11	Book V: verse 12	Book V: verse 13	Book V: verse 14
Book V: verse 15	Book V: verse 16	Book VI: verse 1	Book VI: verse 2	Book VI: verse 3
Book VI: verse 4	Book VI: verse 5	Book VI: verse 6	Book VI: verse 7	Book VI: verse 8
Book VI: verse 9	Book VI: verse 10	Book VI: verse 11	Book VI: verse 12	Book VII: verse 1
Book VII: verse 2	Book VII: verse 3	Book VII: verse 4	Book VII: verse 5	Book VII: verse 6
Book VII: verse 7	Book VII: verse 8	Book VII: verse 9	Book VII: verse 10	Book VII: verse 11
Book VII: verse 12	Book VII: verse 13	Book VII: verse 14	Book VIII: verse 1	Book VIII: verse 2
Book VIII: verse 3	Book VIII: verse 4	Book VIII: verse 5	Book VIII: verse 6	Book VIII: verse 7
Book VIII: verse 8	Book VIII: verse 9	Book VIII: verse 10	Book VIII: verse 11	Book VIII: verse 12
Book VIII: verse 13	Book VIII: verse 14

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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 • --
email: reichek@dslextreme.com

website address: www.reichek.org