Liam Flynn & Gustav Reyes: Ingrained

Artist list

Liam Flynn, Gustav Reyes

Patina Gallery is pleased to announce Ingrained, an exhibition of works from two masters of the wood medium, Liam Flynn and Gustav Reyes. Flynn's turned wood vessels, distinguished by their organic, voluminous forms, are found in numerous public collections and Reyes' lyrical jewelry receives accolades from collectors and jewelry enthusiasts, alike. The exhibition opens October 4 and runs through October 27, 2013.

Woodworkers describe wood as a living material. It trains the worker as much as the worker trains it. It cannot be forced but it will be coaxed, to turn and bend and hold shapes. Each of these artists has learned this. Both have learned to read the grain and character of the material and to work closely with it. Every completed work expresses a story of collaboration.

Flynn and Reyes are self-taught though both are from families with traditions of working with wood. Flynn descends from generations of joiners and woodworkers while Reyes's father was a carpenter who found relaxation crafting jewelry after work.

Liam Flynn, working in Ireland, turns and carves his works. Their voluptuous forms and gently undulating surface are just part of the work's unique appeal. The spare, wood vessels of this master turner exude refinement. They reflect not just his deep knowledge of wood, but an intuition and intimacy that only practice and time can develop.

Gustav Reyes began his career as a jewelry artist when his wife asked if he could make a ring from wood. As a furniture maker, he created one easily but found it split along the grain. When his wife asked if it was possible to bend the wood, his imagination was ignited. He soon developed methods of bending wood and then locking the arcs and curves permanently into it. Today he combines these fluid shapes to create beautiful, and sometimes highly dramatic, works of jewelry.

Perhaps because it is a so common, wood's beauty can be overlooked but in the hands of Flynn and Reyes, this organic, living material is exciting, expressive and refined.