Reinhard Reitzenstein
Canada
Born in Uelzen, Germany, in 1949.
He emigrated to Canada in 1956.
email ridge@vaxxine.com

 R einhard Reitzenstein was born in Uelzen, Germany, in 1949. He emigrated to Canada in 1956.
He studied at the Ontario College of Art, Toronto, 1968-71.
From 1971 to 1991 he was represented by the Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto. Since 1993 he has been represented by the Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto.

 R eitzenstein's work has consistently taken him into processes exploring ways to interconnect nature, culture, science and technology. He works in several parallel areas: indoor installation and sculpture using cast, spun and welded metals, wood, glass, photography, digitally processed images ; large scale drawings; outdoor tree-based installations and sound art. He travels and exhibits his work extensively, often speaking about contemporary cultural issues in his public lectures.

 I n the summer of 1992 he represented Canada with an outdoor installation "Compromiso Viriditas", in Caracas, Venezuela. In February of 1993 he completed an installation entitled, "World Tree" at the Confederation Centre for the Arts in Charlottetown P.E.I. Also in 1993 he completed a public commission for the University of Western Ontario. "Sound Lodge", an interactive sound sculpture built with David Keane, was exhibited at The Nickel Arts Museum, in Calgary, during the conference "Tuning of the World", August 1993. "Sound Lodge" also travelled to the Netherlands in May 1993, and in 1994 to Denmark for the International Computer Music Conference. In February 1994 Reitzenstein was guest artist at the University of Maine, and the Maine College of Art. In April 1994 he travelled to Chile to install a new work at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Santiago, Chile. In July 1994 and 1996 he collaborated with composer Gayle Young during two separate sound installation projects "Tuyeaux Sonores" in Alma, Quebec, and Grimsby, Ontario respectively, and another project as part of Sound Symposium in Newfoundland entitled, "Klang Bau; the Bunker Version". In the fall of 1994 he completed a commission for the Donald Forster Sculpture Garden, MacDonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph, Ontario. In May 1995 he completed a sound sculpture with Gayle Young for The Glendon Gallery, York University. In November 1995 he presented a work entitled "The World Tree" simultaneously in Montreal at Concordia University and The Museum of Contemporary Art Sophia Imber in Caracas Venezuela. In June 1996 he completed an outdoor project entitled "The Eighth Bridge", in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in conjunction with the Kenderdine Gallery and the Mendel Art Gallery. In 1997 he mounted a solo exhibition entitled 'Wildness and the Scientific Method', at the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, University of Guelph, Ontario, and completed a public commission for the city of Etobicoke and another commission for the London Regional Art Gallery, London, Ontario. In May of 1998 he mounted a solo exhibition at the Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto and he represented Canada in Caracas Venezuela at the biennale Barro de Americas. In December he represented Canada in an exhibition in Taiwan. In August 1999 he installed a commission at Brock University, St.Catharines,Ontario, for the Lutz Teutloff Collection. In March 2000 and April 2001 he held solo exhibitions at the Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto. In June he installed a project at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Burlington, Ont. In August he completed a project called "Transformer" in Quebec as part of a Sculpture symposium entitled Cime et Racines. In 2002 he is completing three commissions, in Toronto, for Tridel corp., Oshawa, for the Robert Mclaughlin Gallery. and a private fountain project. Three solo shows will also be held at,t he Art Gallery of Hamilton, the Olga Korper Gallery and the Robert Mclaughlin Art Gallery respectively. A two person show was held at the State University of New York at Buffalo Art Gallery with Gary Nickard.

 H is work is represented in numerous private and public collections among them, The National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada Council Art Bank, Art Gallery of Hamilton, University of Toronto, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Confederation Centre for the Arts, the Province of Ontario, The University of Western Ontario, Lutz Teutloff Collection, Bielefeldt, Germany, CONAC, Caracas, Venezuela.

 R eitzenstein has been an instructor in sculpture and interdisciplinary studies at the University of Guelph from 1980-1998, at Brock University 1991-94, Queens University 1997 and Toronto School of Art 1998-2000 and Sheridan College 2000, since fall 2000 as Head of the Sculpture Program, SUNY Buffalo