Josh Reames

Consciously employing commonly used artistic techniques, such as trompe l'oeil, action painting, graphic design, screen printing, and rudimentary drawing, Josh Reames’ paintings break down hierarchies of mark-making, art historical references, computer graphics, labels, and everyday objects in a manner drawn from the non-objective “infinite scroll” of images and information we encounter in both the online and real world. All incidents exist on one plane and Reames’ work has a borderless quality, its surface seemingly holding the potential to extend infinitely.

Reames’ conceptual framework functions as a kind of filtration device for cultural byproduct.  His object-filled canvases reference a vocabulary of transient signs, and symbols, untethered in space and anchored by visual and textual puns.  The paintings are frequently structured in a way that reflects what is seen on the computer screen: content that is floating, often indexical, shifting, disappearing, and non-hierarchical. This common visual framework for almost all image, news, and information consumption is being referenced in the analog process of painting.

Josh Reames aligns his understanding of painterly tradition with his interpretation of a contemporary experience that speaks directly to the viewer and that seems fitting in the moment of creation.  As Reames carves out his own space in the painting world and creates his own grammar, he wittingly nods his head to history as well.

Josh Reames was born 1985, Dallas, Texas, and received his MFA from the Art Institute of Chicago and BFA from University of North Texas. Reames was artist-in-residence at Ox Bow (funded by Joan Mitchell Foundation), The Barn, East Hampton, NY and The Fountainhead, Miami, FL.  Reames has exhibited in a number of galleries and institutions, including Elmhurst Museum of Art, Andrea Rosen Gallery, The Hole, Team Gallery, Josh Lilley Gallery, 356 Mission, Johannes Vogt Gallery, Monya Rowe, Galeria Annaruma, Andrew Rafacz, Bill Brady Gallery, Kwanhoon Gallery (Seoul), Koenig Gallerie (Berlin), Dittrich & Schlechtriem (Berlin), and Anonymous Gallery (Mexico City).