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Raised in the Hudson Valley, with childhood summers in Kentucky’s Appalachian Mountains, Eric Rhein formed a deep affinity with nature—an ongoing inspiration for his work. Rhein’s art—which includes wire drawings, sculpture, mixed media, collage, and photography—features a wide iconography shaped by the natural environment: hummingbirds, leaves, deer, and other organic forms. Frequently employing salvaged materials, as varied as wire, pages from vintage scientific journals, hardware, and jewelry, Rhein imbues these cast-off materials with new life, mirroring his own path as experienced through his evolving relationship with HIV.
Arriving in New York City in 1980, the 18-year-old Rhein became a part of the East Village arts scene: a unique community which permanently altered the city’s cultural and creative landscape. With fellow artists Greer Lankton, Huck Snyder, Luis Frangella, David Wojnarowicz, Keith Haring, Robert Mapplethorpe, Peter Hujar, Hugh Steers, and Mark Morrisroe—most of whom are in the Visual AIDS Archive—Rhein experienced the community’s creative explosion, and also its profound devastation due to the AIDS epidemic.
Rhein’s first New York works, butterfly puppets constructed for choreographer George Balanchine, sparked an interest in the use of linear elements—a formal theme which recurs in his work.
Diagnosed HIV positive in 1987, Rhein felt driven to address universal aspects of the human condition. His series o photographic and sculptural self-portraits, starting in 1992, are a visual diary of the fluctuations, vulnerability, and resilience of body and spirit. Often nudes, these images softly convey a range of experiences and emotions: there is sensuality within in these works, which embrace acceptance, loss, and remembrance—and survival and faith. Portraits of intimate friends and lovers, commenced in the 1990’s, compliment this series.
Rhein’s rough and tender series of mixed-media Hospital Drawings (made during his 1994 “artist-in-residency” at St. Vincent’s Hospital) examine the permeable spaces between life and death, the tangible and the ephemeral, and the known and ethereal. Reflecting his metaphysical and spiritual approach to healing, Rhein’s art depicts our collective vulnerability, resilience, and possibilities for transcendence.
In 1996, the year protease inhibitors restored Rhein’s physical vitality, he began his ongoing series, LEAVES, honoring the lives of hundreds of men and women he knew who died of complications from AIDS. Walking the grounds of MacDowell, Rhein felt the presence of friends, lovers, and others who had touched his life. Returning to his studio, he rendered the leaf forms in delicate wire: each one expressive of an individual spirit. LEAVES has now grown to nearly 300 tributes, existing as both a personal memorial and a reminder of the ongoing toll of the epidemic. LEAVES continues to evolve and be shown internationally. Seeing this body of work, art historian and AIDS activist Robert Atkins wrote:
“Art has always played a role in coming to terms with collective tragedy, and the role of an artist has frequently been to bear witness. Surely an art of memory like Eric Rhein’s can help harmonize our views by suggesting that honoring the past is one way to live more fully in the present.”
Following in the footsteps of his uncle Elijah “Lige” Clarke (1942-1975), an early gay rights activist (who, with his partner Jack Nichols, co-founded the first national gay weekly newspaper Gay, and the Washington Mattachine Society), Rhein relates to his art as a form of activism. In 1994, David Hirsch invited Rhein to a gathering in artist Frank Moore’s loft, where they founded Visual AIDS’ Archive Project, providing support to artists living with HIV/AIDS and protecting the legacies of those who passed.
Eric Rhein: Lifelines, the first book on his work, was released in 2020 by Institute 193. It is a unique monograph-memoir spanning three decades of the artist’s life and work, and features intimate photographs taken between 1990 and 2012. The book also includes watercolors, delicate assemblages, and wire drawings. Along with Rhein’s text, it features essays by National Book Award-winning poet Mark Doty, and former Institute 193 Director Paul Michael Brown. Of Rhein’s work, Doty writes:
“These images affirm the desiring self at a moment when the desire had become dangerous…”
Filmmaker David Boatman’s ERIC RHEIN: Lifelines is a documentary of a studio visit with Rhein. Eric shares his world, highlighting his experiences of art and activism. He speaks of his artwork as recording an “arc of experience”—a contribution to the historic record of a challenging time.
Rhein received his BFA and MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York. International exhibitions include the Pera Museum, Istanbul; 21er Haus Museum of Contemporary Art, Vienna; American Embassies in Austria, Cameroon, Greece, and Malta; Addison Gallery of American Art; the Leslie-Lohman Museum; Lincoln Center; Artists Space; Art in General; Sculpture Center; White Columns; Bronx Museum of the Arts; Yale University Art Gallery; and the Smithsonian.
Reviews of Rhein’s work have appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, Art News, Interview, Vanity Fair, Huffington Post, Out, Poz, Gayletter, A&U, and Art in America. New York Times critic Holland Cotter wrote of Rhein’s work:
“…the combination of art and craft, delicacy and resiliency, feminine and masculine, is exquisitely wrought and is, as it should be, seductive but disturbing.”
Grants and fellowships include the Pollock/Krasner Foundation, Art Matters, Edward Albee’s “The Barn,” and MacDowell.
He is included in the Smithsonian Archives of American Art's "Visual Arts & the AIDS Epidemic Oral History Project”, in which participants are interviewed in-depth, creating a comprehensive view of their life and work within the context of AIDS; and is part of “The Body As An Archive”, the oral history project of Visual AIDS, which documents cultural histories of the HIV and AIDS epidemic.
In 2017 Eric Rhein received Visual AIDS’ Vanguard Award for his contributions to AIDS awareness through artwork and activism. This has special meaning for him, as Visual AIDS has been a vital part of his life since the mid-1990’s.
E D U C A T I O N
2000 MFA, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
1984 BFA, Painting and Sculpture, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
S O L O E X H I B I T I O N S
2024 Sweetness On The Mountian, Fierman Gallery, New York, NY
Kindred, Mana Contempoary, Jersey City, NY
2019 Lifelines, Institute 193, and 21c Museum, Lexington, KY
2017 360 Moons, BCB Art, Hudson, NY
2015 Ordained, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, NY
2014 The Course of My Life, Johnson & Johnson World Headquarters, New Brunswick, NJ
Natural World, 39th Street Gallery, Gateway Arts Center, Brentwood, MD
2011 Transmutation, BoxoProjects, New York, NY
2010 Communion, BCB Art, Hudson, NY
2006 The Pencil of Nature, BCB Art, Hudson, NY
Journey Among Warriors, Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, New York, NY
Uncle Lige’s Sword, The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, New York, NY
2005 Leaves, Frieda and Roy L. Fuhrman Gallery, Walter Read Theater, Lincoln Center, New York, NY
2004 Anthropomorphosis, Bob Howard, Fire Island Pines, NY
2000 A Gathering, The Schoolhouse Center, Provincetown, MA
1999 Leaves, David Lusk Gallery, Memphis, TN
Interior Structure, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR
1998 The Course of My Life, Richard Anderson Fine Arts, New York, NY
Human Biology, New York Public Library-Donnell Library Center, New York, NY
1997 Room Ten-36, Art in General, New York, NY
Eye on a Sparrow, Froelick Adelhart, Portland, OR
In the Company of Shadows, Tricia Collins/Grand Salon, New York, NY
1992 Still -an installation, AIDS Forum, Sculpture Center, New York, NY
1990 English Monuments, The Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY
1986 26 Objects -an installation, Stockholm Mobile Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
G R O U P E X H I B I T I O N S
2023 Edge of All Things, Clamp, New York, NY
2022 Who Writes History, ArtsWestchester, White Plains, NY
2022 American Jewelry: The Susan Grant Lewin Collection, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
2021 Dissolution, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, New York, NY
2018 Downtown: Collage Culture in the East Village, McClain Gallery, Houston, TX
Alternate Routes, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, New York, NY
Garden of Skin, Angus-Hughes Gallery, London, England
Out for the Camera, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, New York, NY
2017 Nature Morte: Contemporary Still Life, Guildhall Art Gallery. London, England
AIDS at Home: Art and Everyday Activism, Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY
This is My Truth, Tell Me Yours, Stephen Smith Fine Art, Fairfield Alabama
Expanded Visions: Fifty Years of Collecting, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, New York NY
2016 MouthWater, Natioanal YoungArts Foundation, Miami, FL
Art AIDS America, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY
Like Smoke, Equity Gallery, New York, NY
Nature Morte: Reinvigorating the Still Life, Konsthallen Bohuslån Museum, Uddevalla, Sweden
Remedy, ArtsWestchester, White Plains, NY
2015 Art AIDS America, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA
Tiny Pictures, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, NY
40: The Anniversary Exhibition, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY
Party Out Of Bounds: Night Life As Activism Since 1980, La MaMa Galleria, New York, NY
Nature Morte: Reinvigorating the Still Life, Hå gamle prestegard, Stavanger, Norway
Andras Borocz, Nancy Grossman and Eric Rhein, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York
2014 Ephemera As Evidence, La MaMa Galleria, New York, NY
InsideOUT, Fulton Street Gallery, Troy, NY
Round Hole, Square Peg, Artist’s Corner Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2013 Nocturnal. BCB Art, Hudson, NY
Tweet, The Children’s Museum of the Arts, New York, NY
No Man is an Island: The Masculine Landscape in the 21st Century, Print Center of New Jersey, Branchburg, NJ
Recent Acquisitions, Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, New York NY
Round Hole, Square Peg, Smart Close Gallery, 154 Stanton Street, New York, NY
Not Over: 25 Years of Visual AIDS, La MaMa Galleria, New York, NY
Art Meets Art: Perspectives On And Beyond Olana, Hudson Opera House and Olana, Hudson, NY
Secrets, Loss, Memory, And Courage, Addison Gallery of American Art, Philips Academy, Andover, MA
2012 This Land, BCB Art, Hudson, NY
The Sexuality Spectrum, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute Of Religion Museum, New York, NY
Abstract Realities, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY
Pegasus, Christina Grajales Gallery, New York, NY
Abstraction: What is Real, Edelman Arts, New York, NY
Figured, BRIC Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
St. Sebastian: 1530-2011, Edelman Arts, New York, NY
2011 Ossessione Verde, The Faveri Gallery Of Contemporary Art, Bologna, Italy
Apocryphal, Traditional, et al, GCSU Museum, Milledgeville, GA
In Bloom, Islip Art Museum, East Islip, NY
Naked in New Hope, New Hope Sidetracks Art Gallery, New Hope, PA
2010 Local Self Portraits, Hudson Opera House, Hudson, NY
2009 Octet, Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey
Summer Sexy: on line exhibition, Schroeder Romero / Winkleman Gallery New York NY
Arbor Day-A Celebration in Art, The National Arts Club, New York, NY
2008 Timeless: The Art of Drawing, Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ
ART in Embassies Program, Ambassadorial residence, Yaounde, Cameron
The Great Gay Photo Show, Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, New York, NY
Wired, Ernest Rubenstein Gallery, The Educational Alliance, New York, NY
The Sparky Project, Schroeder Romero / Winkleman Project Space, New York NY
2007 Naked in New Hope, New Hope Sidetracks Art Gallery, New Hope, PA
2006 Animal House, Islip Art Museum, East Islip, NY
Between Ten, Visual Works of a Positive Mind, XVI International AIDS Conference, Spin Gallery, Toronto Canada
Bestiary, Froelick Gallery, Portland OR
2005 Flower Power, Barbara Ann Levy Gallery, Fire Island Cherry Grove, NY
Vintage East Village, Hal Bromm, New York, NY
2004 Hot New Work, Barbara Ann Levy Gallery, Fire Island Cherry Grove, NY
Hidden Histories,The New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall, England
2003 Share Your Vision, Artists Space, New York, NY
Weather Report, Gallery for the Arts, Mount Sterling, KY
Jewish Community Center, Louisville KY
1999 Millennium Messages, Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, NY
Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition
Small Works, Ledbetter Lusk Gallery, Mephis, TN
Radiant Children: Art of the East Village - 1980's, Lamia Ink!, New York, NY
The Estate Project, Jonathan Edwards College, Yale University, New Haven, CN
Plant Forms, Froelick Adelhart, Portland, OR
1998 Paper, Froelick Adelhart, Portland, OR
Male, Wessel & O’Connor Gallery, New York, NY
1997 Home Is Where the Heart Is, White Columns, New York, NY
Form and Function of Drawing, Art Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
Conversion, Tricia Collins/Grand Salon, New York, NY
A Living Testament of the Blood Fairies, Printed Matter, New York, NY
1996 What Now?, Aljira – A Center for Contemporary Art, NJ
Me, Myself, and I, ArtGroup for Lesbian and Gay Artists, La Mama La Galleria, New York, NY
Arts’ Communities: AIDS Communities: realizing The Archive Project, Visual AIDS, Boston Center the Arts, Boston, MA
Give Life To Art: The First Step, Gallery Positive and Visual AIDS, Fire Island Pines, NY
1995 The First 10: The Archive Project, Visual AIDS, PS 122 Gallery, New York, NY
Phallic Symbols: Phallic Images in Contemporary Art, 24 Hours for Life Gallery, New York, NY
1994 Stonewall, White Columns, New York, NY
The Underwear Show, La Mama La Galleria, New York, NY
1991 Personal Adornment, Textile Arts Center, Chicago, IL
1989 Selections from the Artist’s File, Artists Space, New York, NY
1988 The Small Works Show, BACA Downtown, Brooklyn, NY
1987 Fashion and Surrealism, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England
Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, NY
Friends from the Heart - an installation, Spiral Building, Tokyo, Japan
1985 Summer Group Exhibition / Tower Gallery, South Hampton, Limbo Lounge Gallery, New York, NY
Wearable Art for the Collector, Evansville Museum of Arts and Science, Evansville, IN
1983 Huck Snyder’s, Harry and David’s Art of the Month Club, New York, NY
1981 Art to Wear, Ibu Gallery, Paris, France
C O L L E C T I O N S
Addison Gallery of American Art, Philips Academy, Andover, MA
Johnson & Johnson, Corporate Collection, New Brunswick, NJ
The West Collection at SEI, Oaks, PA
Portland Art Museum – Gilkey Center for the Graphic Arts, Portland, OR
Leslie Lohman Museum of Art, New York, NY
North Dakota Museum of Art – Barton Lidice Benes Collection, Grand Forks, ND
The American Embassy in Malta
Sydell Group, NoMad Hotels, NYC, LA, Las Vegas
Porter Orlin Inc. New York, NY
The MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
G R A N T S
1998 Pollock-Krasner Foundation
1998 Peter S. Reed Foundation
1996 Art Matters
1995 John Giorno Poetry Systems
1994 Adolph and Esther Gottlieb
1993 Art Matters
1990 Pollock-Krasner Foundation
R E S I D E N C I E S
1999 The MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, New Hampshire
1996 The MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, New Hampshire
1994 The Barn, Edward Albee Foundation, Montauk, Long Island, NY
AWARDS
2017 Visual AIDS Vanguard Award, in recognition of contributions to AIDS awareness through artwork and activism
Eric Rhein is included in the Smithsonian Archives of American Arts Visual Arts & the AIDS Epidemic Oral Project, in which participants are interviewed in-depth, creating a comprehensive review of their life and work.
B I B L I O G R A P H Y
2018 Santos, Nelson, Introducing The 2017 Queer Artist Fellowship, The Archive: The Journal of the Leslie/Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, #63, Spring 2018
2015 Cotter, Holland, Last Chance: New York Times, October 16,, 2015
Doty, Mark, Review: Visual AIDS Web Gallery, October 19, 2015
Visual AIDS, Party Out of Bounds: Nightlife As Activism Since 1980, exhibition catalog, La Ma Ma Galleria, New York, 2015
Civale, Cristina, Artist Profile: "El árbol De La Vida." (The Tree of Life), Página/12 [Buenos Aires, Argentina] 19 June 2015
Colucci, Emily, Artist Profile: “The Course of His Life; Memory and Activism in the Art of Eric Rhein”, POZ, April 2015
2014 The Course of My Life, Johnson & Johnson, exhibition catalog, Johnson & Johnson, New Jersey, 2014
Brass, Perry, Review: “The Manly Pursuit of Desire: Eric Rhein: AIDS and The Hummingbird’s Warrior, Huffington Post, December 17, 2014
Black, Sean, Artist Profile: “Possibilities of Transcendence”, A&U, December 14, 2014
McDonald, James, Artist Profile: “Eric Rhein: The Course of My Life”, OUT, December 1, 2014
MacAdam, Barbara A., Review: “Words of a Feather”, Art News, January 2014
Alina, Oswald, “Ephemera as Evidence”, A&U Magazine, issue #237, July 2014
Visual AIDS, Ephemera As Evidence, exhibition catalog, La Ma Ma Galleria, New York, 2014
2013 Snellen, Wayne, Notes on the Leslie-Lohman Collection: The Archive: The Journal of the Leslie/Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, #47, Autumn 2013
Visual AIDS, Not Over: 25 Years OF Visual AIDS, exhibition catalog, La Ma Ma Galleria, New York, 2013
Petry, Michael, Nature Morte: Contemporary artists reinvigorating the Still-Life, Thames & Hudson, 2013
McQuaid, Cate, Review: “Addison show frames 20th century’s gay male life”, Boston Globe, June 11, 2013
Remembering Paul Monette, exhibition catalog, Addison Gallery of
American Art, 2013
2012 Figured, exhibition catalog, BRIC Rotunda Gallery, 2012
2011 Carlos, Lubin-Levy & Matta, Petite Mort: Recollections of a Queer Public, Forever & Today, Inc., 2011
Snellen, Wayne, Recent Donations & Acquisitions, The Archive: The Journal of the Leslie/Lohman Gay Art Foundation, # 38, Spring 2011
Ossessione Verde, Vanillaedizioni, exhibition catalog, The Faveri Gallery of Contemporary Art, Bologna, Italy, 2011
2009 Octet: Selected Works from School of the Visual Arts, New York, exhibition catalog, Pera Museum 36, Istanbul, Turkey, 2009
2008 Weiermair, Peter, Treasures of Gay Art: From the Leslie/Lohman Gay Art Foundation, All Saints Press, 2008
Timeless: The Art of Drawing, exhibition catalog, Morris Museum, Morristown, New Jersey, 2008
2007 Kahlke, Cheryl Dunbar, Artist Profile: “Eric Rhein, Artist”, Fire Island Tide, August 3, 2007
2006 Strong, Lester, Artist Profile: “Leaves: A Remembrance”, A&U Magazine, December 2006
Von Uchtrup, Michael, Artist Profile: “The Fine Art Of Remembering”, The Archive: The Journal of the Leslie/Lohman Gay Art Foundation #21, Autumn 2006
Walsh, Richard, Artist Profile: “Fallen Leaves”, Metrosource, February/March, 2006
Wilson, Beth, Review: “The Pencil Of Nature”, Chronogram, October, 2006
United States Embassy Yaounde, exhibition catalog, Cameroon Art in Embassies Exhibition, 2006
2004 Petry, Michael, Hidden Histories, Art Media Press, 2004
2003 Bunting, Craig, “Weather Report”, exhibition catalogue, Arts Across Kentucky, Spring 2003
Visual AIDS, Share Your Vision, exhibition catalogue, Artists Space, New York, 2003
1999 Merla, Partric, “Excerpt”, The James White Review, Vol. 16 , No. 1, Winter 1999
Atkins, Robert,"How to Make Art in an Epidemic”, POZ, April 1999
Popism/Stars and Stripes Forever/ The Estate Project, exhibition catalog, Yale University Art Gallery and Jonathan Edwards College, 1999
1998 Jackson, Erik, Artist Profile: "Leaves of Absence”, Time Out New York, issue #140, May 28, 1998
Nichols, Jack, Artist Profile: “Kentucky Artist Gains National Recognition” The Letter, October 1998
Johnson, Ken, Review: New York Times, November 20, 1998
1997 Cotter, Holland, Review: "Art and AIDS: The Stuff Life is Made of”, Art in America, April 1997
Cotter, Holland, Review: New York Times, January 17, 1997
Renee, Thomas, Natasha, Artist Profile: “New York Artist Brings Work and Words to Ames”, The Tribune, Ames Iowa, Volume 4, No.48, November 29, 1997
1996 Editor, New York Times, “When Plagues End”, New York Times, Section 6, December 1996
Fitzpatrick, Laurie, Artist Profile: A&U Magazine, issue #27, November 1996
Give Life to Art: The First Step, exhibition catalog, Gallery Positive and Visual AIDS, 1996
1995 Cotter, Holland, Review: New York Times, April 21, 1995
The First 10: The Archive Project, exhibition catalog, Visual AIDS, 1995
1994 Atkins, Robert, Review: Village Voice, June 8, 1994
Koide, Yukiko, Artist Profile: Figaro, no. 48, Japan, February 1994
Sokolowski, Tom, Review: Art + Text no. 49, Australia, 1994
Lewin, Susan Grant, One of a Kind: American Art Jewelry Today, Abrams Publishers, 1994
1993 Dijknmans, Marie-Louise, Artist Profile: Dutch Elle Magazine, March 1993
1992 Hirsch, David, Review: New York Native, December 28, 1992
Slesin, Suzanne, New York Style, Clarkson Potter Publishers, 1992
1991 Slesin, Suzanne, Artist Profile: New York Times, July 25, 1991
1990 Sischy, Ingrid, "Eyes of March”, Interview Magazine, March 1990
1989 Brantley, Ben, Artist Profile: Vanity Fair, November 1989
Liu, Robert, Artist Profile: Ornament Magazine, Fall 1989
Wolford, Lisa, Artist Profile: Interview Magazine, October 1989
Selections from the Artists File, exhibition catalog, Artist Space, 1989
1987 Martin, Richard, Fashion and Surrealism, Rizzoli Publisher, 1987
1986 Akesson, Bengt, Artist Profile: Clic Magazine, Sweden, December 1986
Hedquist, Hedvig, Review: Svenska Dagbladet, Sweden, October 1986
Artist Profile: Rakan Magazine (Preimere Issue), Japan, 1986