NYAB Event - David Reed "Works on Paper"

David Reed "Works on Paper"

This event has ended.
At Peter Blum Gallery (Soho)
Media: Painting, Drawing

Well-known for his abstract paintings, the working drawings and color studies provide a rare glimpse into David Reed’s process and contemplations. The color studies display Reed’s experiments with color, light, and form. Works such as Color Study #27 exhibit his signature winding, wrapping, rhythmic ribbon-like shapes, and lay the groundwork for the paintings. While the working drawings, ultimately, provide a kind of diary of the artist and each painting, recording Reed’s deliberations and struggles with the work over days, or even years. For example, in Working Drawing #295-3 Reed writes, “3/19 Thought at first that this would work – no longer sure.” Likewise, they contain a biographic and personal element, chronicling events in Reed’s life, from studio visits to protests occurring outside his window. Made on grid paper, the working drawings possess the qualities of an architectural drawing with schematics outlining compositions and dimensions, or a scientific journal with detailed notes on decisions made regarding color. Just as Reed turns his paintings as he works, he turns the drawings, resulting in writing that is at times upside down or sideways.

In these works on paper, working through his written notes, Reed visually analyzes the formulas for blending paints and layering glazes by painting the color studies directly on single or multiple sheets of paper.