Keys

Humankind is defined by language; but civilization is defined by writing.

— Peter T. Daniels

Many of Reinike's paintings in his Arch Series have alphabets and other writings that symbolize the power of knowledge handed down through the ages. The artist invites viewers to contemplate the power of language and its ability to inspire, communicate, and evoke a wide range of emotions.

This richly layered painting brings together the marks, symbols, and structures through which civilizations have recorded what they knew and believed. Across the surface, vertical bands of alphabets and early forms of written language descend through one another—hieroglyphics, Greek, Hebrew, Phoenician, Sumerian cuneiform, and other ancient systems. The letters and symbols are not presented as a neat progression. Some are recognizable while others are fragmented or obscured, appearing and disappearing within layers of warm golden earth tones. The overlapping forms suggest civilizations assimilating knowledge through the marks they leave behind, with some fragments surviving while others have been worn away or buried beneath them.

Across the upper portion of the painting is a frieze of figures, reminiscent of the carved processions and reliefs of ancient civilizations. Beneath the frieze, four pairs of keys are laid end to end across the painting. Within the tops of the keys are symbols including the Alpha and Omega and the Aleph and Tav—the beginning and the end, expressed through Greek and Hebrew. The keys become more than objects; they represent the means by which knowledge and understanding can be unlocked. The alphabets themselves are keys to knowledge, while the right combination of symbols and written forms allows that knowledge to be carried forward.

Above them, a horizontal frieze of figures traces a human presence across time. At the center, an arch opens onto a glimpse of blue sky and clouds. The arch, a recurring symbol in Reinike's work, represents passage from the physical world toward the spiritual and also alludes to a keyhole—the opening through which understanding may be reached.

The painting brings together figures, symbols, alphabets, and architectural form as a kind of visual history of civilization. Writing preserves what human beings have known, believed, and sought to communicate; the alphabets layered across the painting show that history not as a straight line, but as something continually built upon what came before.

Civilizations change, writing systems evolve, and symbols are transformed, yet the marks they leave behind connect one generation to another.  Keys asks the viewer to look closely—to recognize what can be recognized, to wonder about what has been lost, and to consider whether mankind can find the right keys to open what lies beyond.

Keys (right foreground) with Petals (left background.) Both by Charles H. Reinike III.

Keys Artist's Statement PDF