Billy Reynolds

Billy Reynolds does not limit himself to a superficial level: he goes beyond the matter and discovers our intimate side, uncovering what is that makes us. It is a journey beneath the skin, through the muscles and organs that line the skeleton. Reynolds dismounts the being into bits; he displays hidden parts and gray areas exposing a new awareness of the body. He penetrates to our most elemental structure, a remote and unknown zone, where although we remain unique, we also lose the ability to distinguish ourselves from one another. Two different perspectives. Two parts of the same whole. He reveals our internal mechanisms in the same way that our greatest secrets are revealed. He discloses hidden patterns, intricate circulatory networks, nervous systems and a contrast made from masses, shapes, colors and impressive textures of profound beauty.

Apparent are simple devices, where muscles, in a millimetric movement, incite an expression. They contract with subtlety and release a feeling. They distend evoking emotions, or, in a succession of spasms, let out laughter with contagious effects. The same muscles that, when enveloped in vigor, determination or violence, instill movements capable of dragging the whole skeleton.

Reynolds paints a game of contrasts, denouncing the solidity of the bones, the malleability of the muscles, the viscosity of the viscera and the spongy trait of the organs; a panorama of sensory impressions born from a palette of textures.

Like an endogenous source, mechanisms and devices overflow from all sides. Extraordinary biological engineering, an organic mechanic, filled with intelligent electronic circuits, ultimately, a mighty and scientific plethora.

His painting is impressive (in the real sense of the word) when we cross the edges of the skin and see the entrails, which we typically associate with a traumatic and painful experience. It is not purely physical pain; it is primarily psychological because when the bodies interior is exposed in this way, one can glimpse to the fine border that separates life from death.

By Pedro Boaventura • Excerpt from Masters of Contemporary Fine Art - Volume 3

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Billy Reynolds has been creating provocative portraiture and figurative artwork for fifteen years. Billy received his masters degree from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2004, and this invigorating graduate program set him on this creative trajectory of creating incisive and thought provoking artwork. He has exhibited throughout California, and has been in group shows in Chicago, Florida, Texas, New York City and London. His work is in private collections of prominent entertainment figures. He lives and works in the Los Angeles area with his girlfriend and twenty-two month old daughter.

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I am always interested in what lies beneath the surface. I create portraiture and figurative images to provoke. I reveal the inner workings of the body, and the inner workings of the human psyche, by way of showing figurative works that range from what is seen by the eye to what is imagined by the mind, showing the exterior flesh cut away, revealing the inner workings of the body, and revealing all of the complicated muscles, tendons, arteries, fat and bone that lies within. The imagined figures explore the inner workings of the mind.

My images start with any number of methods. I've created sculptures out of clay to create my own models, I've taken photographs of myself for self portraiture, I've had people model for me, and I've created digital collages in Photoshop as reference to made up beings.

Every piece of artwork is a very rewarding exploration.

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