Renown Artist Eric Rhein

Eric Rhein’s work chronicles his life experience and travels, both geographic & mystic; his childhood in the Appalachian Mountains and New York’s Hudson Valley, and his nearly three decades living with HIV.

Arriving in New York City in 1980, 18-year-old Rhein became a part of the vital East Village arts scene, a unique community which permanently altered the city’s cultural and creative landscape—and which was in turn deeply altered by the AIDS crisis.

Rhein’s first New York works, butterfly puppets constructed for George Balanchine, sparked an interest in the use of linear elements—a formal theme that recurs in his work.

After his diagnosis in 1987, Rhein began exploring themes of vulnerability, resilience and transcendence. In 1996, the year protease inhibitors restored Rhein’s physical vitality, he began his ongoing series, Leaves, which honors the lives of over 250 men and women he knew who died of complications from AIDS. Leaves continues to evolve and be shown internationally. 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.”

Rhein’s considered and intuitive use of repurposed objects is a hallmark of his art, employing materials as varied as wire, pages from vintage scientific journals and literature, hardware, jewelry, crystals and other found objects. Gathered from locations as varied as Japan, Thailand, France, and the streets of New York, he handles these salvaged materials with empathetic reverence. For Rhein, the act of giving cast-offs a new life mirrors the artist’s own spiritual path, as well as his evolving relationship with HIV.