Meet Milo Reice: Painter

We had the good fortune of connecting with Milo Reice and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Milo, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I began painting when I was 5 and from there on no longer wished to become a policeman; but there was for me then no concept of risk. In the ensuing years I of course came to see the risks artists often take on to create and survive -I becoming one. Of course there is the age-old conundrum of making a living- I imagine many artists as having side-jobs- a risk(s) in that- if they are not vigilant or super disciplined- distill their artistic work in only negative ways; but then too there are the skinny “throw caution to the wind” hard-core, dyed in the wool creators (as I) who’ll eschew those concerns to work 24/7 on their “stuff” and somehow move forward and grow artistically against the odds, despite sometimes dinner being candy bars , endless pasta and beer- and survive., but either approach has its pains of risk. Family, if an artist has one can wonderfully alleviate some of the pressures.
BUT after this Covid year risk doesn’t mount up to a hill of beans in the same way it used to; it is slightly embarrassing to speak of my artistic stamina in lieu of the horrors of this past year but for my painting “Breakfast on March 15th” (of my 7 work of Julius Caesar cycle, goofy and weird aesthetically as some of its aspects are) as a serious memorial to all those people who’ve died this past year from the plague. Lucky to be an artist sequestered and safe in my home and studio in the mountains of Altadena I felt compelled to acknowledge the real life-threatening risks being taken literally by millions of people everyday.
I’ve always felt a bit inadequate as the years have gone as I’ve loved painting pictures as one did/does in Kindergarten and have been in that sense still a boy at play- an embarrassing catalyst in my seeking to paint subjects of import, – of “the Human condition”
Risks while wielding paint can be liberating, and without it one goes no where for risk goes arm and arm with experimentation and improvisation all needed tools; the aesthetic risks I may take are the fun and drive of much of my painting. Risk is often the catalyst, the hall mark that underlies much serious art.
From when I first remember, my mother taught me to believe that all artists should hope to enlighten, try to speak of great ideas and of issues. Early on I came to believe that like a priest an artist is called; I never wanted to waste the gift I was lucky to have. But too, one has convictions- I’ve never retreated from painting an artwork that might seem untoward and offensive if I believed in its POV; mixing anachronisms, painting openly political statements that could be viewed as “antagonisms”, using comic-book conventions side by side with high classical styles and esthetics, Christ as a Woman, Julius Caesar as a symbol of our democracy rather than as a tyrant, are subjective risks I have taken and shall continue doing so.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I grew up in Manhattan surrounded by everything. At age 4 1/2 or so at The Metropolitan Museum of Art I fell in love with picture making and combined with my Mom’s trips to Europe for business and her stories and photos The NYPD lost a future candidate as I was ensnared by Italian culture … Afterschool painting classes at MOMA and some private art schools the The H,S. of Music and Art and the schooling in Philadelphia and Italy for my BFA and MFA and then my move back to NYC into Tribeca and started my career- sometimes it was wonderful sometimes hard.
As a Manhattan native I was exposed to everything esthetic- I love all sorts of visualization and as I matured as a painter I sought to widen my style looking more and more to break rules and to create a classical figuration not aligned to academic and renaissance principles but a figural representation subservient to abstraction and poetic description rather than perfect rendering.
Great literature: Biblical and Mythological, history and science fiction, Oscar Wilde, et al are the stuff of my ideas. Within these and other subjects I find themes and imagery that I can and have mined to depict and use to preach whatever notion I want to convey(regardless of whether what I’ve to say should be said- I let the public decide there).
I ‘ve shown in Germany and elsewhere in Europe and N.Y.C. continually over the years until around 1998 or so when by then having moved tho California (1994) I retreated into my own head in order to sort of re-learn, re-guage rather , my concerns and abilities, -let alone get to know a new land considering my being a die-hard manhattanite. Like Arthur Rubenstein the great pianist, – who in mid career pulled back from performing as he believed he was playing by rote in order to recalibrate, – improve his gifts, I did the same.
However in the last 20 years I created major works from Oscar Wilde’s Salome, several hundreds or works on paper and drawings and major paintings, and from Richard Wagner’s “Ring” too . Ready once again – with faith again in my own abilities I sought to rejoin the world of art I’d once been very much been apart.
As if God looks out for fools Craig Krull and I crossed paths.
Intertwined are my doubts and my certainties- perhaps like many people; yes I believe my work is unique- I know it is at least here in the States that art from the likes of The Bible, romantic and literary subjects are undervalued or not understood and I am plagued by worry that I am wasting my energy and should make umpteenth versions of Warholian inspired still lives, or perfectly rendered academic-type work I see often these days- As I’ve gotten older too the plethora of images in this world causes me often to question why? -do I paint pictures when there are already so many! Because I’m compelled:
In 1973 as an undergraduate student in Italy watching the Olympics there on television afterwards I was compelled to paint a work that was my take on the terrorism against the Israeli team. In 1980 sick of hearing “God is Dead” or God is a Woman” or Black or this or that I painted my Crucifixion of Christ as a Woman and built a frescoed chamber for it at P.S. One in L.I.C N.Y. These I works as many others over the years I was driven and compelled to create.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Needless to say with Covid there is little of that. BUT if… I’d take them on architectural tours as Los Angeles and Pasadena is a top of the pops place for buildings.
Food trucks yes but my home- a beautiful one luckily under the mountains in Altadena the air is fabulous and my wife is a gourmet cook and I can cook Pasta as if it were in Italy. The beach fronts, Palm Springs ( a favorite getaway of ours). Museums- if they are not being rebuilt, and many of the galleries too. If able- a concert at Disney Hall, something at The Greek Theater and The Hollywood Bowl. The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Craig Krull (my gallerist)- Craig Krull Gallery and My wife Carol,

my late Mother, my father in law Okey Chenoweth (himself a poet)
and many friends and family and previous gallery affiliations.

BUT it is Craig K. who has given me a renewed sense of purpose and a second act business wise.

Website: miloreice.net

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Image Credits
portrait shot by Osceola Refetoff