Leo Reis

The Gap Between Physical and Digital Art

In the 1980s, the art world was still rooted in physical media and object-based traditions. The digital revolution had not yet reshaped aesthetics, economics, or distribution. Leo Reis stood at the threshold as an analog prophet of the digital age. He used physical means (slides and light) to explore immaterial realities, long before the tools of digital art (software, VR, web-based media) became available.

While others remained within the framed canvas, Reis envisioned images that expanded beyond surface. Through Optical Architecture, Reis was already focused on the systems, flows and projection that are part of todays art world. His work is a key link in the lineage from Constructivism and Op Art to the generative and immersive digital practices today.

“When I work with optical architecture, I have placed the figurine not within a rectangle, but within an open room. I experience it as a limitation to be forced to work within a rectangle.”

“I’ve called my pictures ‘optical architecture‘ because I shape the room with a three dimensionality which changes while it is being observed. I use the purity and wealth of nuances of modern film and work directly with light through projection”

“Art is communication. Through their easy accessibility, these pictures can belong to many and communicate with many. Paintings that hang on the walls have often been a tribute to material ownership and status. With new media it is possible to bring about new attitudes towards ownership and marketing”