Early each morning at about 6:45 a.m. you will find me along with many other miserable commuters speeding along a terrifying segment of Old Country Road in Mineola on our way to work.
It is beyond belief that so many drivers can be so angry so early in the morning but they are. This may be because Old Country Road has shrunk from four lanes to two lanes just a mile before that and it is with this grim determination that I make my way to my office each day.
Thanks be to God there is one small glimmer of humor and lightness that I do notice each morning as I am speeding along.
It’s a large colorful sculpture standing in front of the Lever Building at 114 Old Country Road. I never bothered to stop and take a closer look until recently.
Last week during a walking tour through the sculpture gardens at Nassau County Museum of Art I noticed a piece entitled “Casanova Brown: by a Peter Reginato.
This piece of art reminded me of the artwork in front of the Lever Building and after some research I discovered to my utter delight that I was right.
I returned to the original piece of art in Mineola and realized that this was by the very same artist.
I tracked down his number, called him up and this is what I discovered during my conversation with Peter Reginato.
He was born in Texas but his family moved to Berkeley, Calif., where upon his father became a very successful owner of insurance agencies.
Peter grew up in a decidedly upper class setting but told me he was never spoiled.
My fantasy of any great artist is that he would be a dreamer who had his head in the clouds as a teen. But Peter said he was more like a juvenile delinquent with a keen interest in custom car culture which Tom Wolfe described so well in his first book “The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamlined Baby.”
After high school Peter was given a full scholarship to the prestigious San Francisco Art Institute with teachers like Clyfford Still, Mark Rothko and Richard Diebenkorn and Bruce Nauman.
The San Francisco Art Institute have alumni which include Annie Leibovitz, Karen Finley, Paul McCarthy and Jerry Garcia.
In other words it has produced some of the foremost leaders in the world of photography, painting, sculpture and music.
The most striking characteristic of Peter Reginato’s sculpture is its biomorphic, colorful whimsical nature and it reminded me of a 3-D version of a Bryce Marden and all of Elizabeth Murray’s work.
In case you are not up to speed on art, Elizabeth Murray in considered to be one of the 20th centuries foremost artists and it was interesting to discover that when Peter began showing his work back in the early ’60s she was a student out there, probably saw his work and may have been unconsciously influenced by it.
There is nothing wrong with that since you will recall what Picasso once said “Good artists borrow things but great ones steal them.”
Peter Reginato has sold many of his pieces of sculpture to businesses and to buildings. His paintings and especially his sculpted pieces have an air of freedom, charm and fun.
I asked him to give me the title to his piece on Old Country Road and he said he titled it “Cool Jungle.”
As is typical of an artist when I asked why this title he simply said “I like the words.”
This reminded me of Jasper Johns talking about his work when he insists that it doesn’t have meaning, it’s just all about the color.
But as a psychoanalyst I deal with the unconscious all day long so I know better.
I went back to the sculpture on Old Country Road and looked at it closely. And to me the meaning and the images were obvious.
There stood a three-legged man, leaning back and looking up to the sky in amazement and joy.
And of course this is exactly what all artists do. They choose a unique path, they connect to the wonder of our world and then with generosity show us how to appreciate it.
Artists are the culture’s most essential role models. They remain the only ones who try to teach us how to play and enjoy life.
As adults we all become so lost in the daily grind of life and it is often a grim and serious affair. I wished Peter Reginato had small replicas of his sculptures.
I would buy them, put them on key chains and give them to every one of my patients. Then I would tell each patient that when they are very anxious or very down take out your Reginato keychain and smile as you say to yourself “Oh yes, I remember now.
Life is to be enjoyed. We’re actually here to have some fun.”
Every great artist I know whether it is Pablo Picasso or Peter Reginato are trying to teach us how to smile and lighten up. They show that life can have more joy and less pain.
So thank you very much Peter Reginato for providing a guiding light out of the darkness. My deepest hope is that some smart building developers read this column and commission him to do more work in Nassau County.
I surely could use more levity on my drive in to work each morning. He is represented in Manhattan by The Findlay Gallery on 5th Avenue.
