Zachariah Rieke was raised on a Kansas farm where the weathered and rusting remnants of Depression-era failure were a common reminder of human striving against the indifferent forces of nature. Schooled in late-phase Abstract Expressionism, by the time he and his wife Gail arrived in New Mexico in 1970, he had evolved a unique form of action painting that entailed close collaboration with natural processes. Using earth pigments and employing a variety of techniques to replicate the effects of weathering and erosion, he invoked the natural cycles of aging and endurance. He also sought the natural spontaneity of Zen calligraphic brushwork in large black-pigment paintings, and he has recently turned to broad layered washes and stains of poured pigment in lush colors.

Rieke's work is in numerous private collections including the Albuquerqe Museum; the New Mexico Arts Permanent Collection in Santa Fe; Warner Brothers Studios, Hollywood; Mountain Bell, Denver; Andrews & Kurth, Houston; and Sheraton Hotel, Singapore, Malaysia.