Reginald Case

Infobox Artist
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name = Reginald Case


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caption = Reginald Case
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birthdate = 1937
location = Watertown, New York
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nationality = American
field = Painting, Collage, Sculpture
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Reginald Case (born December 23, 1937) is an artist who makes American Folk Art collages [ [http://www.reginaldcase.com/whitney.htm] (1978) Art About Art, Jean Lipman, Richard Marshall] and Hollywood iconographic mixed-media assemblages and sculptures.

Life and work

Reginald Case was born in Watertown, NY and graduated from Watertown High School in 1955. He studied at the State University of New York at Buffalo receiving a Bachelor of Science degree, San Francisco State University and Boston University where he earned the Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts degrees. He studied with Peter Busa at SUNY Buffalo and Robert Gwathmey and Walter Tandy Murch at Boston University. [http://www.reginaldcase.com/politics.htm] (1993) Exhibition Catalog, "Reginald Case: Hollywood Without Politics" Statement by Robert Metzger, Director, Reading Museum, Reading, PA] Upon completing his graduate studies in Boston he taught at Phillips Exeter Academy and Norfolk State College (now Norfolk State University).

During this time, he completed a series of large still-life paintings which extended the imagery of Giorgio Morandi by elongating vessels and vases, transforming them into "architectonic towers". The direct quality of the collage textures led him to abandon these paintings altogether and turn to collage as his next form of expression. [ [http://www.reginaldcase.com/handbook.html] (1985) The Collage Handbook, John & Joan Digby] The Jewish Holocaust was a prevalent theme in Case’s early pieces – in these modest but masterfully executed and consistent works, Case has been compared to something of a graphic Edgar Allan Poe or Pier Paulo Pasolini by Ronald A. Kuchta, Director of the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, NY. [ [http://reginaldcase.com/everson.htm] 1978) Exhibition Catalog Statement, "Reginald Case Collages", Ronald Kuchta, Director, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY]

Case's 1980's-90's work in assemblage, collage and construction fused early influences in film, photography, and architecture. [ [http://www.reginaldcase.com/american_artist.htm] (1993) American Artist, Brett Busang] Beginning with Rudolph Valentino from the 1920s through the 1930s with Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and Buck Rogers, and into the 1940s with Betty Grable and Humphrey Bogart, Case culminated this body of work with a series of objects that focused on Marilyn Monroe. [ [http://www.reginaldcase.com/mm_legend.htm] (2006) "Life as a
]

Case continued with contemporary works of Barbie and Madonna (entertainer) that reflected the glamour of an earlier era. [ [http://www.reginaldcase.com/barbie.htm] (1995) Art, Design, & Barbie, Valerie Steele ] In these there is an iconography of twentieth-century life that explores the imagery at the roots of American history and popular culture. [ [http://www.reginaldcase.com/american_icon.htm] (1989) American Icons, Farleigh Dickinson Univ., Madison, NJ ] [ [http://www.reginaldcase.com/immortal.htm] (1997) Exhibition Catalog statement, Wendy McDaris, "Elvis & Marilyn 2 X Immortal"] In a recent series conmsisting of four groups of photo collage prints, Case has depicted Marilyn Monroe in variations called "MARILYN MONEY". This series substitutes her image for american currency and are notated with quotations by her reflecting on her life, e.g. "Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul." [ [http://www.reginaldcase.com/album-marilynmoney/index.html] "MARILYN MONEY", A series of photo collage prints]

Additional works by Case have made oblique references to 9/11 in his series of Gouache Heads, [ [http://www.reginaldcase.com/article_heads.htm] (2001) Parks, J. "The Gouache Heads of Reginald Case", Watercolor Magazine, Fall.] , "365 Views of Delray Beach" [ [http://www.reginaldcase.com/365views.htm] (2002) "365 Views of Del Ray Beach", exhibition statement, Gallery Camino Real, Boca Raton, FL.] and the series of New York City altered painted photographs [ [http://www.reginaldcase.com/album_ny/index.html] New York City Altered painted photographs.] . Each of these series cast a shadow on the event as seen from a distance of TV or Photographic News images.

His work was shown for many years at the Allan Stone Gallery, NYC, along with the paintings of Richard Estes and Wayne Thiebaud. [ [http://www.reginaldcase.com/CCABC.html] (1990) Capital Cities /ABC, Exhibition, NYC, Catalog of Exhibition ] He has also had major museum exhibitions of his work shown at the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY; [ [http://www.reginaldcase.com/everson.htm] (1978) Exhibition Catalog Statement, "Reginald Case Collages", Ronald Kuchta, Director, Everson Museum, Syracuse, NY ] Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, NY; [ [http://www.reginaldcase.com/munson.htm] (1976) Exhibition Catalog , Reginald Case Paintings , Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute , Utica, NY Artist Statement . ] Reading Museum, Reading, PA; and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA. Case’s work is also represented in many private and public collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.; The British Museum, London; The Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; The Jewish Museum, NYC; The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NYC; The Victoria and Albert Museum, London; and others. An exhibition showing many of the iconic Collages & Assemblages by Case will be at The Butler Institute of American Art from October 12 through December 31, 2008. Louis A. Zona, Director of the Butler Institute of American Art, writes in the exhibition catalog, " The work of Reg Case recalls the genius of Joseph Cornell and salutes as well the singular vision of Robert Rauschenberg. Like Warhol, he both pays tribute to such pop culture icons as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis and Madonna and simultaneously causes us to reflect upon the superficialality of much of what we hold precious." [ [http://reginaldcase.com/ButlerExpo/index.html] (2008) Catalog Statement, "Reginald Case, Collage-Assemblage Exhibition", Louis A.Zona, Director, The Butler Institute of American Art,Youngstown, OH.]

Gallery

Notes and references

External links

* [http://reginaldcase.com Artist's Page]
* [http://www.reginaldcase.com/bio.htm Complete Biography]
* [http://www.garrisonartcenter.org/case.htm Garrison Art Center]
* [http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/site/pages/namesearch.php?name=C Jewish Museum]
* [http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/prints_books/object_stories/sonderbehandling/index.html Article: Victoria and Albert Museum, "Sonderbehandling (Special Treatment, Nazi Bureaucratic Term for Killing Prisoners", Tim Travis, Associate Curator, Word and Image Department, Victoria and Albert Museum London,UK]
* http://www.askart.com/askart/c/reginald_case/reginald_case.aspx
* http://americanart.si.edu/search/artist_bio.cfm?ID=767
* http://www.artincontext.org/artist/artist_about.aspx?id=2356
* http://www.davidrumsey.com/amico/amico250590-7753.html
* [http://www.mfa.org/collections/search_art.asp?recview=true&id=496349 Boston Museum of Fine Art]
* [http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_results.aspx?orig=research%2Fsearch_the_collection_database.aspx&searchText=reginald+case&x=0&y=0&fromDate=&fromadbc=ad&toDate=&toadbc=ad The British Museum, London, UK]
* [http://www.artmuseums.harvard.edu/collections/objectDetail.smvc?sqNum=0 Fogg Museum, Harvard University]
* [http://magart.rochester.edu/THA1343*1$2373*1097549 Memorial Art Gallery The University of Rochester]
* [http://www.wesleyan.edu/dac/coll/draw/amer/amerdraw20c.html Davison Art Center Wesleyan University]
* [http://66.251.89.230/detail.php?type=related&kv=777&t=objects Albright-Knox Art Gallery]
* [http://www.fineartcandy.com/artists_gallery.php?artist_id=222&med=Landscape Renee Fotouhi Fine Art]
* [http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/yourgallery/artist_profile/Reginald+Case/93206.html Reg Case's Saatchi Online Gallery]
* [http://www.blackdogonline.com/all-books/collage.html "Collage: Assembling Contemporary Art", Craig, Blanche, (Ed.), Blackdog Publishing. Current book surveying the history of collage, Reginald Case included]
* [http://www.butlerart.com/DisplaySingleexhibit.asp?ID=99 Link to artist's current exhibition of collage assemblage at the Butler Institute of American Art]
* [http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Reginald_Case Link to artist's page at reference.com]
* [http://collageart.org/links/ Link to Collage Art page]