RICK REINERT’S HAND FEELS EMPTY WITHOUT a paintbrush. For decades, his brush hasn’t stilled, hasn’t been sidelined by creative blocks or a desire to follow another pursuit. It’s a passion that has stayed with him since childhood, and through his service in the Army, before he set it aside for several decades to pursue a career in importing goods from Europe. His return to his first love came after an epiphany—a recognition of the fire that had never gone out, just dimmed.
“I realized I wanted to focus on really giving my painting a go, so I started painting at night, all night, and working during the day—basically to get myself established,” Reinert says.
As he built a name for himself, Reinert started showing his work at a co-op gallery, where he paid for wall space, and then moved up to different, more reputable galleries before eventually planting his own flag on King Street. Small though his eponymous gallery was, it saw success that led to growth and, ultimately, expansion into more space—a trajectory Reinert credits in large part to his wife, Ann, who was integral to the establishment of the gallery. More than a decade and a half later, Reinert Fine Art has become a formidable gallery in the Charleston art scene, boasting a stable of more than 50 artists working in a variety of styles and mediums—Reinert himself among them.
“Over the years, my work has definitely changed in style. You get to a point that you want to say as much as you can with fewer brushstrokes, so things become more representational, less rigid,” says the artist, whose style walks the line between abstract and impressionistic. “Sometimes it just evolves into basically a few strokes here and there, and you can tell a whole story. You want to give the viewer the freedom to fill in the blanks, and that’s what I try to do.”
Reinert’s other artists hail from various states across the country, including Vermont and California, with about one-fifth of those represented local to South Carolina. Additionally, there are a few international artists whose work is for sale at the gallery—most notably Chinese artist Zhiwei Tu, whose dynamic work employs a blend of traditional Chinese ink painting techniques and Western oil painting methods. While Tu operates a museum in China that exhibits 700 pieces of his art, his work is exclusively represented in the United States by Reinert Fine Art—a fact that Reinert is incredibly proud of and one that underscores the gallery’s method of selecting its artists.
“Uniqueness is key to the work we bring into the gallery. It must be distinctive and something that we don’t have already as far as style. Our gallery director, Jason Stone, has been instrumental with the artists, and he really develops relationships with them and spends a lot of time acting as a liaison,” Reinert explains. “The whole staff, really, has been key. They all put it together and know how to talk to people, how to tell a story about the artists and what their work is all about.”
Additional to the interior of the gallery is its exterior—a courtyard space with a sculpture garden showcasing about 15 artists’ work. “Sculpture is impressive to me—not only the size of some of the pieces but the talent that it takes to create them. Unfortunately, I think it’s becoming a lost art,” says Reinert, going on to explain that the expense of creating the pieces alone is incredible, plus an artist needs access to a foundry. Time is another thing at a high premium in metal sculpture. “It’s an arduous process,” Reinert explains. “You’ve got to go to the foundry and get somebody to pour it and finish it. I think it takes 10 to 12 people to finish a sculpture—but then you have this amazing piece at the end.
The sculpture garden has become a real draw for visitors and patrons. “It offers an entirely different experience from the interior gallery,” Reinert says. “The work is three-dimensional, which creates a strong contrast to the two-dimensionality of paintings. We’ll even place paintings outside on easels so as people walk through they’re engaging not only with the sculpture garden but with paintings woven into the space, as well.”
Much like the gallery’s interior, the sculpture garden is a curated experience. “We try to make it feel more artistic—more magical—with outdoor lighting and even a chandelier,” Reinert says. “It completely transforms the environment. During First Fridays and art walks, that space consistently draws a great crowd because people really connect with it. When we first started, sculpture was a very small part of what we did, but over time it’s grown into a significant part of our business.”
The gallery, which is positioned along Charleston’s Middle King corridor, will one day leave Reinert’s hands, leaving him to focus solely on his painting as he and his wife split their time between Seabrook Island and a house in Maine. Both locations feed his artistic soul, though Reinert finds a magical quality in Charleston that drives the strokes of his brush in a different way: the light, the landscape, the energy of the people. “It’s always been a place for great art,” he says. “There’s been a handful that have created a great legacy here—both artists and gallerists alike—and that’s always the hope. As many galleries as Charleston has, it’s a challenging place. And you never know, but when you have all the pieces in place, the people and the service, along with the level of art that we do, those are the things that build reputation and legacy.”
For Reinert, that legacy is less about permanence and more about creating a space where artists are supported, stories are told and collectors are invited into something meaningful. Whether through a single brushstroke or an entire gallery experience, his work—both on the canvas and off—reflects his belief in art as conversation and connection. It’s an ethos that has defined Reinert Fine Art since the beginning and one that will continue to resonate long after his brush has stilled. *
Liesel Schmidt lives in Navarre, Florida, and works as a freelance writer for local and regional magazines. She is also a web content writer and book editor. Follow her on X at @laswrites or download her novels, Coming Home to You, The Secret of Us and Life Without You, at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.
