East End Artist Brings “Belligerent Plasticity” to NYC

Don’t expect the same-old-same when East End and NYC artist Eddie Rehm brings “The Belligerent Plasticity of Duality in He, Himself” to the Dino Eli Gallery on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. What you can expect is the distinct blend of raw emotion and honest expression that has become a hallmark of Rehm’s work—and how he discusses it.

“The Belligerent Plasticity of Duality in He, Himself refers to the concept that also defines the idea that you can start out well, get to something, and for some reason, maybe it’s me just saying #%#* it, unconsciously sabotaging it and watching it all go to %*%&. We can be our own worst enemy without even realizing why,” Rehm says. “But you come to the point where you say, ‘I’ve got to stop doing this.’ You can take that negative side, and turn it around on its head and make it something that can be productive, using its strength towards a positive outcome. Effectively in hindsight it becomes a Blessing in Disguise.”

“In my latest works, the messages are visceral, ambiguous and use convergence in an instant gratification abstract ideology,” Rehm says. “They convey a situation or confliction inside a dualistic interaction in our society’s plastic facade to reveal an understanding to interpret spectrums. Love, divorce, big money, unemployment, sincerity, manipulation, right, wrong, up, down, heaven, hell, etc.”

“The relevant issues and concerns most people have that are entirely all too real for some of us presently,” he continues. “I can relate to this being a model or example of our country’s current situation because of all the collective tragedies and conflictions I have and am currently dealing with. I use my art to voice this with real-life expressionism and show a nuance in the art scene that is bogged down with mainstream, sellable, same-old-same old garbage with a corporate sales pitch of decor to match the drapes that sometimes aesthetically looks good but is dead of emotion, feeling or creativity.

“I wasn’t told or taught or misconstrued to believe what imagination consists of, I dared to envision it.”