Colin Reinagel is a mixed media artist with a focus on abstract textile work. He began his creative exploration at age three when he was exposed to music and the wide range of emotions, sensations, and ideas which could not be expressed using words. His work draws on a broad range of inspirations including neuroscience, microbiology, trauma and recovery, world religions, philosophy, astronomy and cosmology, and the living world around us. He began his career as an artist in 2021 and has since had his work displayed in shows, galleries, and publications, in Chicago, Las Vegas, and London, as well as international projects based out of Belgium and Costa Rica, and digital projects involving artists from around the world.

Bio

Artist Statement

Colin Reinagel: Art with Applied Neuroscience

The artwork I create combines plain and patterned fabrics, acrylic paints with reflective and matte textures, and a wide variety of different threadwork and embroidered techniques using a blend of varied textures and materials of thread. The resulting effect has a slight three-dimensionality to the images while still function as hanging wall art. The layering of fabric, paint, and thread with metallic components creates a deeply detailed and intricate scene while also using negative space to create a pleasant, dynamic, and not overwhelming experience for the viewer which draws them deeper and deeper into the scene while they take in the minute yet vibrant details over a period of time.

While the artwork that I create uses themes from biology, cosmology, philosophy, physics, and other fields of study which seek to explain the universe around us, it distinctly lacks any direct expression of any one simple concept. As the viewer takes in the image they are seeing, the intent is not for them to have an "aha" moment where they finally understand what the piece is of and/or about, but rather the goal of my work is that very process of attempting to understand. The number of small and intricate details serve to hold the viewer's mind in that state for a long period of time.

By drawing from science, nature, and philosophy, with beauty, I create a subconscious effect of familiarity within the viewer while the conscious mind begins exploring new combinations of ideas, categories, and definitions in its attempt to process and contextualize what it is seeing. This process of expanding what the mind thought it knew by presenting it with something it has never experienced before is the very same that children undergo constantly during their most active formative and developmental years when the human mind is growing most rapidly.

It is important to note that the direction in which the mind expands, either positively or negatively, depends entirely on the information itself as well as the context it is presented. A novel experience or perception of a shockingly horrific moment will also cause the mind to expand upon what it knew; however the effect will not be positive which is why it is also imperative that I create my artwork with beauty, peace, and love as underlying themes. I seek to celebrate, honor, and beautify these concepts and organisms which underpin our reality.