Abigail Reed
Abigail Reed’s large scale oil paintings portray animals poised in their ultimate state, standing like statues they demand your attention.
The paint has been allowed to flow, nothing is fixed. Dripping and cracking revealing its accidental, volatile nature. She has to work fast to capture the form. This exposes not only the beautiful medium of oil paints and inks but engages us to look further at the subject. Look through under the layers and unveiled is something more than just an exterior. Strong but fragile these animals reveal the vulnerability of life, the primal instinct of survival.
An animal can appear small or fragile but on closer inspection hold immense power and resistence, mightier than all.
She sees them as representatives of “the Other”, something non-human which puts us in our place, stills our anxieties, reminds us that the world does not solely revolve around the human race.
Abigail mainly works in monochrome. This helps the images to stand out, stand stark in a colourful environment. They are neither exact representations nor abstractions, they come inbetween in a world of their own.
‘…. To be made to feel small is, to be sure, a painful daily reality of the human playground. But to be made to feel small by something beautiful, noble, accomplished,……is to have wisdom presented to us along with a measure of delight.’
(Alain de Botton, A Point of View: In praise of the zoo)
For all sales enquiries contact Jack on jack@antlersgallery.com
Abigail Reed was part of the Antlers exhibition Gravitas 21 March – 19 April 2014
2001-2004, The University Of Wales Institute of Cardiff, BA Hons Fine Art
2000-2001, The City Of Bath College, Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
SOLO EXHIBITONS
2010 Knifesmith Gallery, Bristol
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2014 Gravitas, Antlers Gallery, Bristol
2013 Spring Show, Josie Eastwood Fine Art, Winchester
2013 Winter Shop, Antlers Gallery, Bristol
2007 - 2013, Jamaica Street Open Studios, Bristol
2012 Winter Shop, Antlers Gallery, Bristol
2012 Midwinter, The Bomb Shelter, Beer, Devon
2012 Old Beliefs, Antlers Gallery, Stroud
2012 Other Nature, Antlers Gallery, London
2012 Winter Show, Josie Eastwood Fine Art, Winchester
2012 Spring Collection, Josie Eastwood Fine Art, Winchester
2012 Other Nature, Frameless Gallery, London
2012 Group Show, Innocent Fine Art, Clifton, Bristol
2011 Winter Shop, Antlers Gallery, Bristol
2011 No.1 Harbourside with Antlers Gallery, Bristol
2011 The Folk House, Bristol
2011 Inside-Out, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
2010 Art Box, Park Street, Bristol
2010 The Picture House, Smithson Gallery, Bristol
2010 The Play Of Light And Dark, Sarah Wiseman Gallery, Oxford
2009 Sidcot Arts centre 'Drawn In', Sidcot
2009 Jamaica Street Artist's Auction, Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, Bristol
2007 Undo, Centrespace Gallery, Bristol
2004 - 2007, Bath Society Of Artists Annual Show, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
2006 Bristol Art Show 2006, Centre Space Gallery, Bristol
2004 Arts For Youth Wales, City Hall, Cardiff
2003 The Hans Brinker Hotel Exhibition, Amsterdam
2003 Periphery, G39 Gallery, Cardiff
2003 Art Age, Lichfield, Staffs
2002 Group Show, Cardiff University Hall, Cardiff
ART FAIRS
2013 AAF Battersea, Josie Eastwood Fine Art, London
2013 AAF Hampstead, Sarah Wiseman Gallery, London
2012 AAF Hampstead, Sarah Wiseman Gallery, London
2012 AAF Bristol, Antlers Gallery, Bristol
2011 AAF Hampstead, Sarah Wiseman Gallery, London
2011 AAF Bristol, Smithson Gallery
2010 Edinburgh Art Fair, Smithson Gallery
2006 Art Fair, Pall Mall, London
2006 Penmans Dulwich Art Fair, London
PRIZES
2004, Eversheds Purchase Prize
2003, Dulcie Mayne Stephens Travel Bursary
OTHER PROJECTS
2004, Lead Artist at The Big Draw Workshop, Bay Art, Cardiff
2004, Lead Artist at The Jerwood Drawing Prize Workshop, Bay Art, Cardiff
Jamaica Street Artists
http://www.jamaicastreetartists.co.uk/abbyreed.html
Artist's Website
http://abigailreed.org/