| Ira Reines was born in New York, December 3rd, 1957. In 1980, a turning point came in Ira's career. He was hired by Dyansen Gallery to create sculptures from the beautiful Art Deco designs of the Art Deco Master Erte. He worked for the next 11 years creating the 70 releases of the three Erte Sculpture Collections. This new position involved attending many glamorous art openings where Erte would be celebrated and Reines newest sculptures were introduced. It was then that his personal style of fine art sculpting began to evolve, from creating classical, mythological and usually male objects, to almost exclusively creating beautiful and romantic women. His collaboration with Erte ended in 1991 when Erte passed away. Today, Reines has mastered the complicated techniques of sculpting for porcelain and a found a new avenue of commercial work creating figurines for the porcelain collectibles market. As a result, his bronze and porcelain sculptures are represented in galleries and collections across the country. Ira Bruce Reines' sculptures have a level of execution, spiritual content, and grace that is worthy of admiration. He creates works of romanticism and beauty that evoke emotion and joy in those that view them. Reines has been sculpting for over 28 years. His first creations were clay dinosaurs that he began making at the age of five. He is a self-taught artist who learned sculpting and molding techniques from books that he studied when he first began sculpting at age 15. It was that year, that Ira entered his first juried art show and won first place. During his high school years, he participated in other art shows and earned many honors that encouraged him to take up career in art. Michelangelo, Rodin, Bernini, and the worlds of fantasy were the inspiration and influences of his early works. He continued to create elaborate works of art and began selling his sculptures in bronze and doing various private and commercial commission work. Then at the age of 19, he worked for a year at Medallic Art Co. in Danbury, CT sculpting medallions and learning advanced plaster-working techniques... |
