Paul Ré

Paul Ré, Flamingoes (1973), pencil on rag paper, 27" x 26"

Paul Bartlett Ré (pronounced Ray) is an American artist, writer, poet, and peace worker. He is known for his mathematically and poetically inspired works. Enormously talented in the rendering of complex and precise visual structures and symmetries with pencil drawing, Paul Ré also gained significant renown for his tactile work for the visually impaired.

Ré has been acclaimed by art critics as "a virtuoso of the pencil" for his art of "quiet greatness and noble simplicity." His work combines surrealist reminders with concepts coming from advanced physics, the complexity of technique resulting in striking meditative simplicity.

Among Paul's inspirational sources we find: the archeological, cultural and natural richness of New Mexico and the South-West of the U.S.; a deep naturalism anchored in his scientific studies; and a spirituality cultivated through direct contact with the Eastern monastic tradition of yoga.

Beauty and peace are the preeminent values in the life and work of Paul Barlett Ré. The beauty of hand work and intellectual research in the rational structuring of reality. The peace of immersion in the intricacies of nature and in the inexpressible, and the peace humans find in their social engagement.

In 2007, the University of New Mexico established a bi-annual peace prize named after Paul Barlett Ré honoring his commitment and work for promoting peace around the world.

Biography

Paul Barlett Ré was born in NM in 1950. His father, of North-western Italian origin, was a wood-worker who clearly instilled within Paul the passion and value for work done with one's own hands. His mother, of English descent, inspired Paul with a love for words, humor and peace. Ré's success in his studies brought him to graduating in Physics with high honors from the prestigious California Institute of Technology in 1972. However, Ré made the decision of pursuing an artistic path where he could employ his talent for the sciences, for visual and hand work, and could pursue his broad philosophical interests. Simplicity being one of his most important philosophical tenets, Paul chose to work with one of the most basic yet sophisticated visual tools, the graphite pencil.

Paul Ré, Japanese Pine (1984), Bas-relief from TOUCHABLE ART FOR THE BLIND AND SIGHTED, 26" X 20"

Ré started exhibiting in California and New Mexico during the 1970s. Since then, he has had 22 solo exhibits in 13 states, including those at the UNM Jonson Gallery, Albuquerque Museum, Triangle Gallery, Wichita Museum, Sumter Gallery, J. B. Speed Museum, the Colorado Springs Museum and the Karpeles Museum.

In 1979, Ré created the embossing works which gave a tactile form to his visual creations and the resulting exhibition “Touchable Art: An Exhibit for the Blind and the Sighted” traveled nationally from 1981 to 1994. The exhibition was met with great success and a handmade, Thermoformed companion volume with braille and text was produced in 1983. A documentary film on his Touchable Art was produced by SCETV in 1990. He is now making a second tactile exhibit "Inspired by Nature" which is dedicated to environmental conservation.

In 1993, the volume “The Dance of the Pencil: Serene Art by Paul Ré” collected the full development of Ré's work up to that date. The book sections – Growth Series, Mandala Series, Animal Series, and the purely abstract works – plus extensive text give a full representation of the cultural environment inhabited by Ré during his extensive career and show the great originality of his talent. The Journal of the Print World reviewed it as "one of the outstanding art books of the year."

Paul has received enthusiastic reviews from scientists and Nobel Laureates Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Richard Feynman and Roger Sperry; artists Georgia O'Keeffe and Raymond Jonson; intellectual Douglas Hofstadter, and many others.

In 2007, the University of New Mexico established a bi-annual peace prize named after Paul Barlett Ré in recognition of his active work for promoting peace in the world.

Paul is also an accomplished guitarist, poet and humorist.

Ré Peace Prize

Extending Paul Ré's decades of work promoting harmony in the world, the bi-annual Paul Bartlett Ré Peace Prize has been established at the University of New Mexico. Managed by the UNM Foundation, the bi-annual prize awards a UNM student, faculty, staff person or retiree who has demonstrated notable achievements in promoting world peace and understanding.

The recipient of the award may be an artist but may also be an individual in any field who has pursued peace and harmony with creativity and dedication. Emphasis is on promoting both internal and external peace and fostering discussion of what really constitutes peace. Possible projects may be environmental, involve individual or social healing, integrative medicine, sustainable energy or green architectural design, art creation or preservation, human population control and family planning or any positive endeavor. Included is Conflict Resolution, but Conflict Prevention is to be particularly strongly emphasized.

The 2007 awardee was Stephen Littlejohn, faculty at UNM in communication and journalism. Alternate awardee was Arti Prasad, internal medicine professor at UNM. Honorable mentions were given to William Gross, professor emeritus, engineering, and Hakim Bellamy, graduate student in communications and journalism.

The 2010 awardees are Arti Prasad, founder of the UNM Center for Life [1], and Peace Talks Radio [2], cited for its efforts in communications.

Writings and Awards

Paul Ré, Chromatic Symphony (2007), Réogram (hybrid hand-digital print), 20" x 26"

Paul Ré's writings appear in Leonardo 13, 14 and 15, SPIRIT OF ENTERPRISE: The 1990 Rolex Awards, The Journal of Visual Impairment, New America, La Mamelle and Design Journal. Ré is prominently included in Contemporary Graphic Artists, Great Minds of the 21st Century and Greatest Geniuses plus many other reference volumes worldwide.

Paul is editing his collected poems THE IRIS BALLET and compiling his 48 volumes of aphorisms and micro–essays into THE RéCYCLED DICTIONARY.

He has received many awards including the top honors in International Science Fairs, Wurlitzer Foundation Residencies, the World Lifetime Achievement Award and Da Vinci Laureate. Ré has been cited for "Universal Art that Transcends" and "Serene Art that Elevates and Unites."

Statements by Ré

“When we thoroughly integrate peace into all of our thoughts and actions, our life becomes a work of art. This is a very practical, influential and equable art form that everyone can practice”.

“Global Peace must begin as Inner Peace within each individual. We can invite peace into our lives through thoughtful, healthy living and by offering courtesy, respect and friendship to others. There is a symmetry between the human rights we expect to receive and those we have an obligation to give. When we thoroughly integrate peace into all of our thoughts and actions, our life becomes a work of art. This is a very practical, influential and equable artform that everyone can practice. Ultimately, Peace becomes a natural way of living.”

References

• "Paul Ré: Expressing the Art in Physics", by Winnifred Veronda, Caltech News, Dec 1977.
• "My Drawings and Paintings and a System for Their Classification", Leonardo, vol XIII n. 2, spring 1980, Oxford, England: Pergamon Press, pages 94–100.
• "On My Drawings and Paintings: An Extension of the System of Their Classification", Leonardo, vol XIV n. 2, spring 1981, Oxford, England: Pergamon Press, pages 106-14.
• "On the Progression of My Figurative Drawings Toward Higher Abstraction and Outward Simplicity", Leonardo, vol XV n. 2, spring 1982, Oxford, England: Pergamon Press, pages 109-14.
• "Ré, Paul B.", Contemporary Graphic Artists, Vol 3, Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1988, pages 181-3.
• "Expressing the Art in Science", by Winnifred Veronda, Caltech News, Vol 23-4, Aug 1989, pages 6–7.
• "A Book and Two Traveling Exhibits for the Blind and Sighted", Spirit Of Enterprise: The 1990 Rolex Awards, edited by David W. Reed, Bern, Switzerland: Buri International, 1990, pages 378-80.
• "The Dance of the Pencil: Serene Art of Paul Ré", Paul Ré Archives, 1993 (limited edition of 1,000).
• "Paul Ré, Dance of the Pencil", by Dennis Wepman, Journal of the Print World, Fall 1994, page 23.
• "The Dance of the Pencil", Alibi, March 15, 1999: [3]
• "Artist Ré extends Jonson's transcendental vision", by Wesley Pulkka, Albuquerque Journal, October 7, 2001, page F5.
• "Réograms and the Paul Bartlett Ré Peace Prize at University of New Mexico", by Paul Ré, Journal of the Print World, Fall 2009, page 21.
• "Duke City Native Starts Peace Prize", by Martin Salazar, Albuquerque Journal, March 22, 2010, page A4: [4] (subscription required)

External links

• http://www.paulre.org/