Mario Reis, born 1953 in Weingarten in Upper Swabia, is a versatile and international visual artist. Characteristic of his work is the artist-induced momentum of elementary forces with the participation of a variety of media, which he actively integrates in the creative act of design. His varied spectrum includes artistically recorded train traces, the signatures of flowing waters in his natural watercolors, real firecrackers in the scores of a frog concert to the oxidation processes of salt and copper, the creative potential of which Mario Reis lends artistic form.
The image results are never designed in the conventional sense. Rather, the artist – like a choreographer – initiates (and ends) the design processes, but does not intervene in their course. Nevertheless, they always have a high aesthetic reality, an almost painterly poetry in beauty and authenticity.
The works that are the focus of our film today deviate from the rule just mentioned. In his champagne cork stamp prints, Mario Reis uses corks from champagne bottles, which he previously emptied in the name of art, to make prints on paper with. The process is similar to that of planographic printing, as the company insignia and other writing on the head of the cork does not accept ink and therefore remains non-printing while the cork absorbs ink and thus becomes printing.
In the case of Mario Reis’ champagne cork stamp prints, in contrast to all other groups of works, more compositional intervention is recognizable, because apart from the decision to stamp in a fixed grid or freely, the artist also decides when to take on new color with the cork. This choice affects how much and how far the successive prints fade and when the cycle starts again with dark, bold color.
His unmistakable artistic form has helped Mario Reis – Günther Uecker's former master student – to gain worldwide recognition. He has received several prizes, including the Suntory Prize, Osaka (Japan) and the art prize of the city of Gelsenkirchen. His work is represented in numerous national and international collections.
