Lita Barrie visits the studio of artist Roland Reiss whose work will be on view at Begovich Gallery, California State University, Fullerton (November 8 – December 11, 2014) and Diane Rosenstein Gallery, Los Angeles (December 2014).

Barrie writes: "In the Floral Paintings, Reiss uses the flowers as a scaffold to create in-between spaces where surprising things can happen. The flowers float in the center of these paintings like a galaxy. Reiss juxtaposes multiple perspectives of space, as both flat and infinitely deep. Viewed from afar, the human-scale flowers, bursting with vibrant translucent color, are experienced in a body-scale relationship. Viewed from a close focus, tiny surprising details are discovered in the gaps between the flowers. The play on large and small scale, telescopic and microcosmic perspectives, resembles a zoom camera lens that keeps the viewer's attention moving up, down, around and across the painting, making perceptual connections between the 'clues' in the background details and the beauty of the dramatic flowers in the foreground."