ZACHARIAH RIEKE

Through studying late-phase Abstract Expressionism, Zachariah Rieke evolved a unique form of action painting that entails close collaboration with natural processes. Using earth pigments and employing a variety of techniques to evoke the effects of weathering and erosion. His large black-pigment paintings are inspired by the natural spontaneity of Zen calligraphic brushwork. Rieke has recently turned to broad layered washes and stains of poured pigment in lush colors. Zachariah Rieke studied painting at three universities over the course of seven years and then taught at the University of Alberta while living in Canada during the Vietnam war. Rieke has been represented by a succession of top galleries in Santa Fe since the mid-seventies, including Janus, Linda Durham, and EVO. He and his wife, Gail, were honored with a retrospective at the New Mexico Museum of Art, which ran for six months in 1999-2000. In 2006, his work was selected for the Acclaimed Artist Series of the New Mexico Arts. In the same year, his paintings were included in Painting: Alive & Well! Eight Modern Masters at the U.N.M. Art Museum.