Reginald Case was born in Watertown, NY on 23 December 1937, and graduated from the local High School in 1955. He studied science at the State University of New York at Buffalo, then took an MA in Fine Art at Boston University. Afterwards he taught at Phillips Exeter Academy and Norfolk State College. During this period, he completed a series of large still-life paintings, before turning to collage.
His best-known work, from the 1980s-90s, plays with Hollywood iconographic assemblage, collage and construction, fusing early influences in film and photography, from Rudolph Valentino to Fred Astaire and Humphrey Bogart, and culminating in a series of objects focusing on Marilyn Monroe. In 'Marilyn Money’, he substitutes the film star’s image for American currency. In other works exploring the roots of American history and popular culture, he showcases Barbie and Madonna.
Case’s museum exhibitions include the Everson Museum of Art, Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Reading Museum and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Reginald Case died on 24 April 2009. His work is represented in many private and public collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and The British Museum.
