Wayne Michael Reich

It was not that long ago that Wayne Michael Reich considered himself to be primarily a Pop-art painter. Though he has considered Phoenix to be at least his part-time home since the late ‘70s, he’s spent a considerable amount of that time living and showing work in New York City, where the one and only art rep he ever loved kept his paintings in demand until about 2000 when, sadly, she retired. It was at about that time when Wayne made his Phoenix residency mostly permanent.

When I first made his acquaintance in 2001, he was showing a collection of Pop acrylic-on-board paintings at the Willow House Café. We began talking about each other’s work and in the course of our discussion he told me that he had discovered that he had incredible natural light in his apartment and he was beginning to do a little photography there. Those experiments, which began as a diversion, have evolved into a mature and recognizable style that has all but eclipsed his earlier brushwork.

Our interview is a natural continuation of the conversation that we began five years ago; as far as I can remember the only thing that Wayne and I have ever talked about was Art. Except, of course, Women, but when discussing the Art of Wayne Michael Reich, conversation naturally segues between these two subjects. His fetish photography of ladies who are “a little too tied up to talk” has found a genuine following in Phoenix. Ironically, his upcoming show, which he describes as probably the most important in his career, will not feature either the posterized Pop portraits that were a staple of his career for almost twenty years, or his wildly popular fetish photography, or even his recent series of images of models that have been reflection-morphed (check out the his website [url]www.waynemichaelreich.com[/url]).

Contemporary Architecture of Phoenix will be the theme of Wayne’s show opening August 28 in the Phoenix City Hall Atrium. The exhibition will feature a concise series of photographs taken entirely over the last five years, highlighting the vicissitudes of Phoenician urban progress: there are images of architecture that we’ve lost in the last five years, some are of the new growth, and others show a little of what has been preserved. The foot traffic alone in this particular venue would make any artist jump at the chance to exhibit work there, but there is one catch: Wayne can’t sell any work directly through this show.

I sat down with Wayne at Unlimited Coffee in Phoenix to discuss how he managed to snag this lucrative opportunity to use the busiest foyer in Phoenix for this one man exhibition.

JC: How did you get the idea to ask City Hall if you could exhibit your work there?

WMR: This all started with a book of Phoenix architecture that I wanted to do. I found a publisher that would print the book and put up half of the publishing cost, so I was going around trying to find a corporate sponsor or someone that could help pick up the rest of the tab. Initially, I went to City Hall to talk to POAC (Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture) to see if they would be interested in financing it as a coffee table book of local sites that they could give away to visitors. Their initial response was very positive. They said ‘we really like the photos, and we’d like to help, but, we’re not sure what we can do.’ So from there, I was bounced around back and forth from various departments in City Hall, starting with the Office of Film, and then the Dept. of Public Works, downstairs to the receptionist, back to POAC and most of those same places a second and third time until eventually I was sent up to the mayor’s office. Though I never spoke with him personally, apparently he liked the work because then his office contacted me a couple of days later through an assistant with an offer to use the atrium for an exhibition.

JC: At least everyone was in the same building! How long did the approval process take?

WMR: They got back to me about three weeks later with the final list of images that I could exhibit. They took out some images from the original group because they can’t use anything that shows ‘blight’ or graffiti, which I can understand, because I know that the police have a pretty vigorous anti-graffiti campaign. This was all in March of this year, so it will only have taken about six months from the outset until the show opening.

JC: Though you see a lot of art being displayed in public buildings, I think that a lot of artists are discouraged from looking for this kind of opportunity to display by what they imagine to be an exhausting bureaucratic exercise. Although for at least one day it was clearly exhausting, it seems that for you this process was clearly a day well spent, especially in light of its successful outcome.

Do they regularly show work in the atrium and do you think that others would be able to replicate your success?

WMR: A lot of that seems to depend on what kind of work is being presented. One of the main reasons that they were drawn to the photos that I showed them was that it dove-tailed nicely with a campaign to promote their vision of the development of the downtown core. So, relevance is definitely the key to working with them on this sort of thing. I’m sure that a lot of artists would feel like their work was being censored during the selection process, like the photos that showed graffiti for example, but exhibiting in this venue is all about being able to work within their comfort zone.

While I was making my way around city hall to get support for the show I saw recently that they had an interesting exhibition of images that developed from an exchange of photographers from Phoenix and a city in Mexico. From what I understand, I’m possibly the first artist to have a solo show in the atrium, though they regularly display work there for other non-profit groups.

JC: Well, as long as the precedent is set, than theoretically the door is open to others, which is encouraging. What is the city doing to help with promotion and are you doing any additional promotion?

WMR: They’re going to help by sending out press releases to the major Phoenix media outlets. Hopefully, that will net some kind of morning spot on one of the local TV networks. Other than that, and this interview of course, I’m just going to call the contacts that I have at some of the local print publications and see if I can get any attention from them.

JC: Tell me about how your photography represents Phoenix.

WMR: A lot of people who look at the pictures that I have taken immediately ask ‘Isn’t this New York, or San Francisco, or even Tucson.’ They don’t recognize the places, even though they were shot on Central Ave or one of the major intersections downtown. I think it’s because so few people walk compared to other major cities. Most of my photos are taken while walking around on these main streets. I take pictures of the architectural details and odd niches rather than whole buildings, so I present Phoenix as a sort of sum of its small details rather than using wide or panoramic shots.

JC: Obviously the city has been making a big show lately of its desire to demonstrate a greater level of involvement in the politics of local art. What is your general impression of the helpfulness of various city offices with whom you came in to contact during this process? And finally, the Ten-Thousand Dollar Question: what does the city need to do to create more opportunities for local artists?

WMR: Right now the city needs to take advantage of the surge in local interest in the arts by passing laws that make it easier for artists to save money by living and working on the same property. In a lot of other cities they have provisions in the code that allow for a group of artists to rent out a big warehouse as a studio and live in it too. Most of the artists that I talk to barely can afford to rent an apartment let alone a private studio space. The city needs to adjust its zoning laws to encourage the creation of more affordable live/work spaces. Rather than trying to play catch-up with where the city is already at, Phoenix needs to leapfrog ahead of the current trends and aspirations and work on building an infrastructure that is larger than the current need, so that in twenty years the city will be ahead of the curve.

It’s like in LA during the sixties when they were building freeways seemingly out to nowhere. Everybody was upset that so many millions of dollars were being ‘wasted’ on these roads, but the population projections showed that people were going to fill in those inland areas within a few decades. And if you’ve ever driven around on the LA freeway system, you know that they were absolutely right about the population explosion, and despite their foresight, their freeway system is still underdeveloped.


Wayne will be exhibiting his series of photographs in the Phoenix City Hall Atrium (street entry level), located at 200 W. Washington St. in Phoenix, from August 28 until September 7. There is no admission fee. Those interested in seeing a sample of Wayne’s photography and painting are encouraged to check out his website mentioned above; if you would like examine the rest of his portfolio or to purchase a print from the upcoming exhibition, please contact him via e-mail through the website “contact” link.