Artist Statement

Tonight I was having a conversation with the artist Jeff Rinehart. 

I was telling him that here in New Orleans I did not take for granted that all artists want the same thing. In my graduate school years and then in New York, it seemed that all the artists I knew wanted the same thing. Everyone wanted to climb the beanstalk that disappeared into the clouds, to find the castle of giants and the golden harp, to collect the goose and the golden eggs. The dream was to be represented by a top gallery, bought by important collectors, included in museums, not only to bankroll this artist's life but more importantly to be part of the culture, part of the conversation.

I gestured to a piece of Jeff’s work that hung on the gallery where we were having this conversation.

“I can ask you," I said. "Where do you want this to go? Where to you want this work to end up? In your dream scenario I mean…"

He answered, “The work is a dream.”

Jeffery Rinehart,  Damien Hirst in the attic,  C-Print on Fiber Paper, Image Courtesy of the Artist