"My sculptures embody spiritual beauty, a sense of ascension, grace, flight, awakening, and rebirth that is a metaphor for divinity.” — Ira Reines Ira Reines was born in New York, New York on December 3, 1957. The worlds of fantasy and mythology and the works of Michelangelo, Rodin, and Bernini fueled the imagination of Reines and encouraged him to create elaborate bronzes and to begin to accept private and commercial commissions. In 1980, Ira Reines’ career got a tremendous boost when he was hired to work with Art Deco Master Erte, considered by many as the father of Art Deco. Ira worked closely with Erte, translating the master’s two-dimensional designs into seventy bronze sculptures that were sold world-wide. This symbiotic association with Erte lasted eleven years, up until Erte’s death in 1991. During this period, Reines’ skills and personal style in fine art sculpting began to evolve, undergoing a metamorphosis from classical mythological themes to more contemporary ones. The sculptures of Ira Reines have now progressed to the point of being referred to as “Sculptural Etherealism”, delicate and intricately formed figures of near-perfect beauty, often in poses of extreme balance, sometimes emerging as-if in the process of creation, and replete with beauty and spirituality. Beauty born of chaos, form created from formlessness, for Reines feels that “Beauty is a perfect reflection of divinity.” "My sculptures embody spiritual beauty, a sense of ascension, grace, flight, awakening, and rebirth that is a metaphor for divinity.” — Ira Reines Ira Reines was born in New York, New York on December 3, 1957. The worlds of fantasy and mythology and the works of Michelangelo, Rodin, and Bernini fueled the imagination of Reines and encouraged him to create elaborate bronzes and to begin to accept private and commercial commissions. In 1980, Ira Reines’ career got a tremendous boost when he was hired to work with Art Deco Master Erte, considered by many as the father of Art Deco. Ira worked closely with Erte, translating the master’s two-dimensional designs into seventy bronze sculptures that were sold world-wide. This symbiotic association with Erte lasted eleven years, up until Erte’s death in 1991. During this period, Reines’ skills and personal style in fine art sculpting began to evolve, undergoing a metamorphosis from classical mythological themes to more contemporary ones. The sculptures of Ira Reines have now progressed to the point of being referred to as “Sculptural Etherealism”, delicate and intricately formed figures of near-perfect beauty, often in poses of extreme balance, sometimes emerging as-if in the process of creation, and replete with beauty and spirituality. Beauty born of chaos, form created from formlessness, for Reines feels that “Beauty is a perfect reflection of divinity.”