David Reed
21 Apr - 25 Jun 2016
Peter Blum is pleased to announce an exhibition, “New Paintings”, by David Reed on view at 20 West 57th Street, New York. This is Reed’s first solo exhibition in New York since 2007. There will be an opening reception on Thursday, April 21, from 6 to 8 pm. The exhibition will run through June 25.
“As the viewer looks at the painting, they are compelled to glance rapidly from left to right, reimagining the process of the work’s production. The painting requires a kind of viewing distinct from the ‘all-at-once-ness’ of Modernist painting. Instead one could describe the spectator as compelled to scan the picture: the glance presupposed is that of the city-dweller, as though watching a car or a train pass by. There is also a more indirect association with the movement of film.”
- Stephen Moonie, “The Indiscipline of Painting”, Tate St. Ives, 2011
Extending along the entire Eastern wall of the gallery, from within reach of the windows overlooking 57th Street, to the wall in the back of the exhibition space, six paintings are hung in a horizontal line, adjacent to each other, nearly touching. The painting to the far right continues into the back office. Visitors can request that any of the paintings be removed from the line-up and placed on an empty wall to be viewed individually.
New components of these paintings, introduced since Reed last showed in New York, are brushstrokes painted using multiple layers of laser-cut stencils. These stencils are made from scans of brush marks from previous paintings that have been manipulated, both manually and digitally. Used as a scaffold, these multiple, layered and overlapping stencils allow for the creation of new possibilities: different colors, configurations, and croppings. Also included in the show is a large drawing from 1975 which exemplifies the kind of brush-stroke that can be transformed.
An extensive group of color studies and working drawings that document the artist’s working process accompany the show.
“As the viewer looks at the painting, they are compelled to glance rapidly from left to right, reimagining the process of the work’s production. The painting requires a kind of viewing distinct from the ‘all-at-once-ness’ of Modernist painting. Instead one could describe the spectator as compelled to scan the picture: the glance presupposed is that of the city-dweller, as though watching a car or a train pass by. There is also a more indirect association with the movement of film.”
- Stephen Moonie, “The Indiscipline of Painting”, Tate St. Ives, 2011
Extending along the entire Eastern wall of the gallery, from within reach of the windows overlooking 57th Street, to the wall in the back of the exhibition space, six paintings are hung in a horizontal line, adjacent to each other, nearly touching. The painting to the far right continues into the back office. Visitors can request that any of the paintings be removed from the line-up and placed on an empty wall to be viewed individually.
New components of these paintings, introduced since Reed last showed in New York, are brushstrokes painted using multiple layers of laser-cut stencils. These stencils are made from scans of brush marks from previous paintings that have been manipulated, both manually and digitally. Used as a scaffold, these multiple, layered and overlapping stencils allow for the creation of new possibilities: different colors, configurations, and croppings. Also included in the show is a large drawing from 1975 which exemplifies the kind of brush-stroke that can be transformed.
An extensive group of color studies and working drawings that document the artist’s working process accompany the show.