Shana Nys DambrotPainter, sculptor, beloved teacher and mentor, former Claremont Graduate University Art Department Chair Roland Reiss has been a pillar of the Los Angeles art world for decades — from early showings at LACMA in the 1960s, the 1975 Whitney Biennial, documenta in 1982, and any number of solo gallery and museum exhibitions and career-spanning survey shows.
One such is currently on view at the Oceanside Museum of Art, combining his dual practices in witty, miniature tableaux sculptural stories and large-scale floral motif paintings which are secretly armatures for color-theory abstraction and often reveal surrealistic imagery embedded in their mega-palette foliage.
L.A. WEEKLY: When did you first know you were an artist?
ROLAND REISS: In high school, in 1946.
What is your short answer to people who ask what your work is about?
Sharing consciousness.
What would you be doing if you weren’t an artist?
I would be a filmmaker.
Did you go to art school? Why/Why not?
I went. I didn’t think I knew what art was and I didn’t.
Roland Reiss at Oceanside Museum of Art, installation view
Why do you live and work in L.A., and not elsewhere?
As Randy Newman says, “I love L.A.” It has the desert, the mountains, the oceans, palm trees, a thriving art community, and great studio spaces.
When was your first show?
1946, in Mrs. Etherton’s Frame Shop in Pomona.
When is/was your current/most recent/next show?
“Unrepentant and Unapologetic Flowers, Plus Small Stories,” currently up at the Oceanside Museum of Art until September 8.
What artist living or dead would you most like to show with?
Henri Matisse.
Do you listen to music while you work? If so what?
No, I prefer news and lectures.
Websites:
dianerosenstein.com/artists/roland-reiss
Roland Reiss, “The Morality Plays (Asteroidium) 1980/2018, Mixed media, 14 x 36.25 x 8 inches (Courtesy Diane Rosenstein)
Roland Reiss, “Domestic Setting” 2014, oil and acrylic on canvas, 68 x 52 inches (Courtesy Diane Rosenstein)
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