June 8 through July 27, 2019
Opening Reception: Saturday, June 8, 7-10 pm
As we celebrate Los Angeles Pride Month, Bermudez Projects is excited to present our latest exhibit, Luke Reichle | Covet, featuring a series of field paintings and sketches by the artist as he examines the physical and psychological aspects of desire, pleasure-seeking, yearning, and appreciation.
The word, covet is loosely defined as a desire for that which already belongs to another.
For Reichle, the concept of coveting began with something he was viewing on a daily basis: the wrestling team.
“I was raised Catholic and as such was taught that the act of coveting was equal in weight to sins of lying, stealing and murder,” says the artist. “This early indoctrination into the evils of desire inserted guilt and shame into the already confusing territory of need and wanting.”
In over a dozen works on paper, Reichle captures the power and sensuality of the male form; presenting each one as an intimate visual poem that celebrates beauty, strength, and the varying aspects of a man’s body.
“I got triggered early on when my sister brought home Jansen’s History of Arther first year in college,” Reichle, continues. “I couldn’t seem to get past the chapter on classical Greek sculpture. It was the first time that I was allowed to gaze, uninterrupted, at the naked male form.”
As a costume designer, Reichle is fully aware of an individual’s body and physique. His professional career has been shaped by understanding the sum total of all one’s parts. Applying that knowledge to his fine art career informs his creative application and approach to rendering each of his subjects.
“My painting practice is inescapably rooted in my response to desire. Strongly influenced by Baroque composition, Hellenistic mythology and the emotional vibrancy of the Bay Area Figurative Artists, my work inevitably enters into a dialogue about the nature of desire and the ability of figurative art to trigger longing,” says Reichle.
“And from early on, I’ve dealt with the record-skip of desire/frustration by drawing. It was the only way I knew to possess the object of desire. It’s complicated. I desire the object for it’s beauty, I want it but I also want to be it. I want the benefits I ascribe to having a body like the Apollo Belvedere.”
Although sensual, Covet isn’t a sexual, pornographic exhibit. Instead, it is a celebration and appreciation of men; men at play; camaraderie; and athleticism.
“The format of the show, which borrows heavily from my field journals, speaks to the way I respond to the triggers of desire. By working quickly, I can pass through the veil of longing and into a space where I can experience desire uncensored and capture the object in physical form,” adds Reichle.
“And in the end, it is about appreciation: The love of the male form and the attention, study and practice I’ve lavished on becoming able to reproduce what I desire in a way that will communicate the longing I experience in the act of creation.”
Luke Reichle (b. 1956) is a renowned designer, speaker, and one of the leading experts in the fields of costume design, fashion, and personal style. He has worked for major television and film studios, including Walt Disney Studios, Warner Brothers, Universal, Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox, MGM, United Artists, ABC, NBC, CBS, BBC and HBO.His debut exhibit, Beauty and the Bust presented his images of mutated busts into an art form confined by the pictureplane, but deconfined by his rampant imagination. Covet is the artist’s second solo show at Bermudez Projects.