Artist Statement
In my work I use the process of photography as an attempt to better understand my existence in the context of the world around me. As an artist, the 4×5 camera gives me temporary purpose in situations I might otherwise have no place in and allows me to experience the physicality of my surroundings in an intimate way. In the following works I use two radically different photographic approaches to reflect on my identity both as a subject and a viewer.
The first series of photographs document my experience of Hungary, with a focus on the small town where my family is from and where I was living for the past two years. The images depict how I would like to remember a country that is developing rapidly while struggling to preserve its cultural identity.
Originally from Hungary, my parents and I left during communism when I was three years old and moved to the United States. Due to increased westernization, the country has changed a great deal in a short period of time. In the past, communism limited external exposure, preventing the country and its people from changing at the same pace as other parts of the world. At present, Hungary’s younger generation has adapted to western influence, however the elderly population remains largely unaffected. This is a unique moment in time when antiquated traditions still coexist alongside the contemporary world.
My familiarity with the culture and its people allows the viewer access to a vulnerable and amusing world in the midst of transition. I choose to photograph people and instances that evoke the atmosphere I experienced in Hungary during my frequent childhood visits. This fading version of Hungary I am nostalgic for is represented in the off handed aesthetics of the vernacular: interiors decorated with an abundance of patterns, box shaped cars that double as a picnic table; seemingly incongruous parts that surprisingly coalesce. The characters in the pictures express earnestness and humor, which is juxtaposed with a lingering awareness of mortality and fatalism displayed in their surroundings. Through my observations I reflect on my position in this world as both an outsider and an insider and acknowledge that I can only do so from a foreign perspective.
In an older ongoing project, Cutouts (2003-), I make life-size cardboard cutouts (often self-portraits) and re-photograph them out in the world. I do not use any digital manipulation to composite the pictures. I make the cutouts by hand and re-photograph them in a specific location or situation using a view camera. While the pictures are direct documents, their space appears collaged and altered, often resembling an image from the early days of Photoshop. By creating these replicas I am able to explore the conventions of photography. I depict scenes in which I believe a representation of the subject can be an effective substitute for the original once it is re-photographed. The final outcome exemplifies the duality of the medium; it can be used as a tool to document reality while simultaneously transforming it into the imaginary. On a personal level, the pictures describe a desire to escape reality and a longing to experience the world as it can only appear in pictures and be recalled in memories.
Reka Reisinger
Born in Hungary. Lives and works in New York City.
Education
2007 MFA Photography, Yale University School of Art, New Haven, CT
2004 BA Photography, Bard College, Annandale, NY
Exhibitions
2012
Cutouts, The Spence School, New York, NY.
Capricious Magazine Benefit, Martos Gallery, New York, NY.
Earth, Air, Fire, Water, The Dependent Art Fair, Shandaken Projects, New York, NY.
Brucennial 2012: Harderer. Betterer. Fasterer. Strongerer, New York, NY.
2011
Their Wonderlands, curated by They Are Here, Midlands Art Center, Birmingham, UK.
If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody hears it, does it make a sound?, Lisa Ruyter Galerie, Vienna, Austria.
Their Wonderlands, curated by They Are Here, Grey Area, Brighton, UK.
2010
Secrets, curated by Skye Parrott and Alec Friedman, Space 1520, Los Angeles, CA.
Spring Fever, Shangri-la Studio, Brooklyn, NY.
Lucky Draw 2010, The Sculpture Center, Long Island City, NY.
The Brucennial 2010: Miseducation, New York, NY.
2009
Mine But Not Me, Miami, FL.
It Ain’t Fair, OHWOW, Miami, FL.
2009 Benefit Gala Exhibition, The Center for Photography at Woodstock, NY. Lucky Draw 2009, The Sculpture Center, Long Island City, NY.
Site Seeing: Explorations of the Landscape, The Center for Photography at Woodstock, NY.
2008
Cutouts, Real Artways, Hartford, CT.
Naivete, The Metric System, New York, NY.
My Other Nature, The Camera Club of New York, NY.
Dark Fair, Swiss Institute, New York, NY.
Lucky Draw 2008, The Sculpture Center, New York, NY.
31 under 31: Young Women in Art Photography, curated by Humble Arts Foundation, The Gallery at 3rd Ward, Brooklyn, NY.
The number 10, 10 East 76th street, New York, NY.
2007
Holiday Shopping Show, curated by Robin Kahn and Kirby Gookin, The Emily Harvey Foundation, New York, NY.
In the Dirt: Young Photographers Rethinking the Human Relationship to the Contemporary Landscape, Gitana Rosa Gallery, Brooklyn, NY.
Yale MFA Thesis Show, Danziger Projects, New York, NY.
Artists Swap Meet for Ooga Booga LA, High Desert Test Sites, Joshua Tree, CA. Yale MFA Thesis Show, Green Hall Gallery, New Haven, CT.
Lucky Draw 2007, The Sculpture Center, Long Island City, NY.
Contemporary Views of the American Landscape, The Camera Club of New York, NY.
M*A*S*H*, curated by Amy Smith-Stewart and Omar Lopez-Chahoud, New York, NY.
2006
Lucky Draw 2006, The Sculpture Center, Long Island City, NY.
The Studio Visit, Exit Art, New York, NY.
2005
A Walk in the Park, The Sculpture Center, Long Island City, NY.
Greater New York 2005, P.S. 1 Center for Contemporary Art, Long Island City, NY.
Handmade, Wallspace Gallery, New York, NY.
2004
Cutouts, The Spence School, New York, NY.
Holiday Shopping, curated by Robin Kahn and Kirby Gookin, Wallspace Gallery, New York, NY.
Art and Commerce Festival of Emerging Photographers, Art and Commerce, New York, NY.
Press and Publications:
ArtReview Magazine, “Snapshot: Reka Reisinger,” November 2009.
The Center for Photography at Woodstock, 2009 Benefit Gala Catalogue, 2009.
The Humble Arts Foundation, “The Collector’s Guide to Emerging Art Photography,” 2009.
Megan Driscoll, Big Red and Shiny, “Reka Reisinger at Real Artways,” Issue #89, August 2008.
Amy Smith-Stewart, Greater New York Exhibition Catalogue, 2006.
Dushko Petrovich, N+1, “A Five Part Review of Greater New York 2005,” Spring 2005.
Blake Gopnik, The Washington Post, “At P.S. 1 Few Artists Are Ready to Graduate,” May 2005.