Jack
Reilly
is among the group of artists involved in the Abstract Illusionism
painting movement that emerged in the United States during the1970's.
Reilly's work is widely exhibited in galleries and museums. His
shaped-canvas paintings are included in numerous public and private
collections internationally. Recent projects include a forty foot
public art commission, executed in enamel on steel, for San Diego
County, and an eighteen foot shaped-canvas, commissioned by American
Airlines, currently installed in Los Angeles International Airport.
Reilly's paintings continue to challenge visual
boundaries of pictorial space in both abstract and figurative painting.
His work addresses artistic concepts prescribing the use of certain
pictorial restraints to a wide range of contemporary, especially abstract,
painting styles. Reilly abandones the use of many traditional methods
employed by artists to create the sense of visual depth in two-dimesional
art. Perspective is replaced with the appearance of multiple light
sources and cast shadows, resulting in a visual paradox as abstract
images appear to hover in front of multiple layers of jagged, shaped-canvases.
Reilly's paintings also investigate numerous issues of contemporary
abstraction, including elements of poetic lyricism, subjective color
harmony, and exploration into formal as well as expressive balance.
Originally, the notion of illusionistic space existing in abstract
art was shunned by many art critics. However, the continuing influence
of this style can be found in-and-outside of today's art world. Many
visual elements that originated in Abstract Illusionism currently
proliferate numerous art forms. Among the more obvious examples are
the recent fascination with "virtual reality" and the increasing
use of artificial three-dimensional elements currently prevalent
in contemporary
design, website development, and computer animation.
