Ingo Botho Reize (DE, º1953)

In the greenhouses of the University of Cologne biologist and artist Ingo Reize since 2000 developed different techniques to handle algae as the basis for color and form arrangements on canvas. His passion for algae already dated from his childhood when he discovered how algae growth lay at the origin of all life on Earth: without algae there was no atmosphere and therefore no oxygen to breathe.
After having achieved a PhD with a topic about algae, Ingo Reize began to apply his knowledge of hundreds of species of algae in order to create ‘paintings’. After a first series of figurative works his works evolved more and more to abstraction. The ‘Journey’ of paintings created by the movements and the growth of algae in cloths that he places in basins on still water. The color and the composition of his works may be determined by the conscious choice of algae and by the specific drying process of his paintings. In that way, Ingo Reize developed a new artistic technique in collaboration with nature. His double-sided and works permeated by smell can be exhibited in different ways: for the sake of an optimal conservation they were framed for this exhibition.