Program
Exhibitions
Eric Rhein: Kindred
Join us on Thursday, April 11th starting at 4 PM for the opening reception of Kindred by Eric Rhein. This exhibition is the introduction of Mana’s new program: Mana Highlights, a series of new exhibitions to celebrate the diverse and creative body of work of artists currently at Mana Contemporary in Jersey City. Rhein has been a presence in Manhattan’s East Village since 1980, and he became part of the neighborhood’s arts community with artists such as Greer Lankton, Luis Frangella, David Wojnarowicz, Keith Haring, Robert Mapplethorpe, Peter Hujar, and Mark Morrisroe. As the community permanently altered the city’s cultural landscape, it was also profoundly devastated by HIV/AIDS. Through allegorical wire portraits, Rhein’s ongoing work Leaves honors individuals he knew who died of complications from AIDS. Initially 80 tributes at its conception in 1996, Leaves has now grown to nearly 300 portraits—an evolving, personal memorial to the overwhelming losses due to the pandemic. Rhein’s monograph-memoir Eric Rhein – Lifelines features intimate photographs: self-portraits and images of friends and lovers as a personal response to the AIDS crisis.
Exhibition co-curated by Angel Herrera, Mana Contemporary.
The exhibition is extended until August 30th.
After opening, viewing hours are Tuesday to Friday 10 AM to 5 PM. For inquiries and any other questions email Angel Herrera at aherrera@manacontemporary.com
About Eric Rhein:
Raised in New York’s Hudson River Valley, and spending childhood summers in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky, Eric Rhein formed a deep affinity with nature, which continues to inspire, his multidisciplinary artwork. Influenced by the luminous landscapes that inspired the Hudson River School, Rhein’s art forges an intimate metaphysical and transcendental connection between man and nature. Exploring this complex relationship, Rhein’s work features a vast personal iconography shaped by the natural environment such as hummingbirds, leaves, deer, and other organic forms. Through his powerful metaphorical imagery, Rhein examines the liminal spaces between life and death, the tangible and the ephemeral, and the known and ethereal. Working in a wide range of mediums, including wire drawings, sculpture, photography, and delicate mixed media collage, he handles often salvaged materials with empathetic reverence. Rhein’s considered and intuitive use of repurposed objects is a hallmark of his work, frequently employing materials as varied as wire, plates, pages from vintage scientific journals, hardware, jewelry, crystals and other found objects. For Rhein, the act of giving such cast-offs a new life mirrors the artist’s spiritual path.
Rhein received his BFA and MFA from SVA. International exhibitions include the Pera Museum, Istanbul; 21er Haus Museum of Contemporary Art, Vienna; American Embassies in Austria, Cameroon, Greece, and Malta; Addison Gallery of American Art; the Leslie-Lohman Museum; Lincoln Center, Artists Space; Art in General; Sculpture Center; White Columns; Bronx Museum of the Arts; Yale University Art Gallery; and the Smithsonian. Reviews of Rhein’s work have appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, Art News, and Art in America. Grants and fellowships include the Pollock/Krasner Foundation, Art Matters, and MacDowell. Eric Rhein is included in the Smithsonian Archives of American Art’s “Visual Arts and the AIDS Epidemic: An Oral History Project.” in which participants are interviewed in-depth, creating a comprehensive review of their life and work. For his art and activism, Eric received the 2017 Visual AIDS Vanguard Award.