Gagosian exhibits the recent work of David Reed
David Reed - 746 - 2019-22
From 31 March to 21 May 2022, the Gagosian Gallery presents in Basel "David Reed: Losing and Finding", an exhibition of recent works by the American artist David Reed.
Source: Gagosian Gallery. Image: David Reed, "#746", 2019-22, oil, alkyd and acrylic on polyester, 243.8 × 137.2 cm © 2022 David Reed/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Rob McKeever
Born in California in 1946, Reed moved to New York in 1966 to study at the New York Studio School. Since 1971, he has lived and worked in the so-called "capital of the world". The Gagosian Gallery reproduces a text by Reed about his experience in New York, from which the title of the exhibition derives: "Walking in Manhattan, I’m fascinated to watch people and cars turn corners and vanish. For a suspended moment, they seem to be only partially there; the part not visible is gone, perhaps never to be seen again. My recent experience of painting has been similar: losing and finding, intuition and instinct."
Gagosian Gallery explains in a press release, "Between 1974 and 1975, synthesized these divergent currents in a succession of tall abstract canvases marked with primarily black or red strokes painted from left to right, top to bottom, and sometimes diagonally."
"Reed’s new tall canvases feature an expanded version of one of his established formats, using new materials and techniques such as stenciling and scraping. In these works, he employs digitally produced laser-cut stencils often derived from brushmarks in the same paintings; thus, in some paintings, a stenciled brushmark may be compared directly to the hand-painted mark on which it is based. The stencil marks are incised and painted into the surface, not collaged in place. Reed says that replicating a brushmark is impossible, but that failing opens up new possibilities. The vibrant palette is new, too, but retains the strong value contrasts of earlier works. Occasionally, color arises from gesture—black brushed over yellow, for example, results in a surprising shade of green. These paintings are, explains Reed, more about the capacity of gestures to generate something unexpected than about gestures as ends in themselves".

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