David Reed: #64, 1974, oil on canvas, 72 by 56 inches. Courtesy Gagosian, New York. © 2017 David Reed / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo Robert McKeever.
A 1975 exhibition of brushwork paintings by David Reed, originally presented at Susan Caldwell Gallery in SoHo, has been re-staged at Gagosian’s uptown outpost. If you are interested in the development of abstract painting, this show pinpoints an innovative chapter. Reed’s approach sounds simple, but the results are not. He applied thick wet horizontal bands of mostly black or red paint on narrow scroll-like canvases laden with wet white paint. He then took the paintings off the studio wall and dropped them to the floor, allowing gravity to produce some Jackson Pollock-style spatter.
When first exhibited, these paintings caught the eye of a young artist named Christopher Wool who has since gone on to critical and commercial fanfare. Wool and curator Katy Siegel organized Reed’s show, which was first presented at the Rose Art Museum last fall. While highly respected in Europe, Reed is finally garnering attention in the US. A stellar exhibition including new and old paintings, drawing and video is on view at Miami’s Pérez Art Museum until May 21. The show currently at Gagosian is slated to travel to Laura Owens’s Los Angeles kunsthalle 356 South Mission Road. —Lindsay Pollock
Pictured: David Reed: #64, 1974, oil on canvas, 72 by 56 inches. Courtesy Gagosian, New York. © 2017 David Reed / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo Robert McKeever.