Joel Rea - Beasts of Arcadia

NEW YORK, NY (August 10, 2015) — Jonathan LeVine Gallery is pleased to present Beasts of Arcadia, a series of new works by Australian artist Joel Rea in what will be his first solo exhibition at the gallery.

Rea takes viewers on breathtaking adventures in his hyperreal oil paintings of imagined realities. Using ultra fine brushes, sometimes as thin as just a few hairs, his meticulous landscapes draw attention to the vast grandeur of nature and its uncontrollable and sometimes destructive forces. Inspired by various media and personal experiences, Rea’s surreal narratives reflect the complexity of reality and human emotion.

The duality of the natural world is a reoccurring theme in Rea’s work and in Beasts of Arcadia, he celebrates life while simultaneously deconstructing the perfection of its existence. Sublimely monstrous animals, tenacious tsunami waves and boundless terrains encompass his subjects, creating an alluring yet treacherous spectacle of unlimited outcomes.

In a 2014 review, Jane Denison wrote, "Intrigued by chance, duality and alternate possibilities, Rea’s hyperrealist paintings delve into the depths of our minds. Using the physical elements as a metaphor for human emotion and experience, Rea portrays nature as pulsating energy that is both majestic and threatening. He is interested in the duality of opposites where nature is a source of purity and timelessness while also a dark sentiment and force of destruction.''