The fullness of Vivian Reiss' life is reflected in the vibrancy of her paintings. Her work is large scale, luminously colorful, and endowed with a vibrant sense of joie-de-vivre. The vitality of her life is channelled in her vivid portraits, still-lifes, and landscapes. Reiss' work is a passionate exploration of form and color, thriving off the interplay and tension between both. Her large scale oil-on-canvas works, developed over a 35 year career, reflect deep aesthetic concerns, as well as a sophistication in the expression of the joyous and the beautiful. Her compositions brim with movement, thriving off the tension between a sense of perspective and flatness; and multiple compositional concepts thematically replayed in numerous guises throughout the canvas. Her works concentrate not on technique but on expression. Form and perspective are expressed by color which is both intense and employed with a intensively detailed eye towards hue and the mixing of multiple shades. The impression is of movement expressed on the static surface of the canvas, as compositional dialogues within the paintings are always in flux. Reiss' work has been put in context with Alice Neel, Florine Stettheimer, Daivd Hockney and Matisse and she lists influences as varied as Pop Art, Dutch & Flemish paintings from the Renaissance, Expressionism, The Spanish School and Persian miniatures as her influences. Reiss also has the energy of the abstract expressionists, reflecting the influences of her New York youth.
Her work can be viewed at her website Artist Vivian Reiss www.vreiss.com
Her blog features her garden and culinary adventures Vivian Reiss Blog www.vivianreiss.com
Her design practice can be visited here: Vivian Reiss Designer (Architecture, Furniture, Landscape Design) www.vreissdesign.com
Her unique artist designed apartments for rent in Toronto can be found here
Designer Apartments for Rent Toronto www.annexrentals.com
Reiss' artist designed office space in Toronto can be found here: Artist Designed Office Space for Lease www.124Merton.com

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