Theadis Reagins - More Gifts

Exhibition Receptions: Friday, April 7, 2023 5-8 pm and Friday, May 5th, 5-8 pm

Gallery Hours: Wednesdays 1-4 (schedule may vary) and by appointment through May 21st.

Deep Dive Art Projects is pleased to present More Gifts, an exhibition of prints and drawings by Cleveland native Theadis Reagins. Reagins is a first-year student at the Cleveland Institute of Art, where he is currently studying Painting and PrintmakingThis is the artist's first solo exhibition.

More Gifts includes works on canvas and paper that highlight the roles of presence, ideas of displacement and phenomenon, and the roads we travel towards the discovery of an epiphany. The artworks delve into history painting, mark making, and composition. Made in less than half a year, the work offers a fresh window into new techniques, experimented and meditated upon in search for something new, combined with what’s been practiced throughout history. "Learning etching has demystified some of the art of my influences and has allowed me to expand my drawing process into something more intimate and rewarding due to the super engaging process," says Reagins. "As a result, there is a focus on methods of developing and finding the interconnectedness between the three mediums; Painting, drawing, and printmaking."

 Conceptualized around a 1514 Dutch version of Adoration of the Magi, images from More Gifts emphasize the luxury of memories and experience with loved ones, and the internalization of individuals with divinity. "Through the drawings I tend to find a detail that can be heightened to tell a story of that individual, or to tell an overall narrative in company with other works," Reagins explains, "The discovery of prints on canvas allows me to merge painting and printing ever so slightly into a two-step process by adding white to heighten or darkening with brown after the images are cemented onto the surface." Inspired by Degas' monoprints and his inventiveness in use of print materials, Reagins scratches the surface of what can result when one understands the permeance of the three methods. Through these expressions on canvas and paper, the artist invites viewers to make their own connections to the art: revealing, relating, and reconciling art history and human history— to make sense of the world today and find new meaning through personal experiences.

Theadis Reagins was born in 2004 in Columbus, Ohio, and raised in Cleveland with his mother, Angela and sister, Bobbi Reagins. As a kid he was taken on multiple museum trips with his sister and mom around the United States building an appreciation and relationship with art as a family. Drawing as a step in research was done at an early age where reading books about animals was often followed up by representational images of the specimen with facts next to them. While a student at Cleveland School of The Arts ('22), Reagins learned about contemporary artists, at the same time looking back to the past to find inspiration. Reagins still references Dutch and Italian Renaissance artists and their messages to convey his experience and perception of the world in new ways. Reagins has participated in group shows at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, and around Cleveland including the Morgan Conservatory, Worthington Yards, and the CSU and Bonfoey Galleries as part of the 2022 CAN Triennial.

Theadis Reagins, Epiphany, 2023, intaglio