Ira Reines was born in New York on December 3rd, 1957.

He receives art training in high school and college, but is essentially a self-taught sculptor, reading works on sculpturing and mold-making theory, inspiring himself from the worlds of mythology, fantasy and the works of Master Sculptors such as Michelangelo, Rodin and Bernini.

At his first juried art show, fifteen years old Ira Reines is awarded First Place and Best of Show honors for sculpture, the first of many such honors earned before he is twenty.

At the age of nineteen, one of his sculptures catches the eye of the director of Medallic Art Company in Danbury, Connecticut, where he is subsequently offered a position sculpting medallions. Reines seizes the opportunity to hone his skills while expanding his knowledge and expertise in mold-making and plaster-working techniques.

From 1980 to 1991, Reines works with Art Deco Master Erte, translating his two-dimensional designs into 70 bronze sculptures sold world-wide. Some of these sculptures can now be found in prestigious museums such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Smithsonian, and London’s Victoria and AlbertMuseum.

Afterwards, Reines concentrates on his own creations. His sculptures sometimes have distinct Art Deco themes while others are inspired from mythology or romanticism. Over time, his work has evolved to the point of representing beauty born from formlessness; the beauty of awakenings, ethereal and nearly divine, that transcends time in a style which he describes as “Sculptural Etherealism”. Reines explains that “Beauty is a perfect representation of divinity. Without chaos, there would be no divine form, no ethereal beauty. Life itself is born out of chaos and formlessness.”