Upper East Side, New York
David Reed
Terrible Idea
RodderRodder is pleased to present Terrible Idea, David Reed’s debut exhibition with the gallery. Over the course of a career spanning more than five decades, the renowned artist’s signature approach to painting has established him as a leading figure among the process-based avant-garde. The title of the exhibition - Terrible Idea - is derived from an annotation in one of Reed’s working drawings included in the exhibition. Rooted in their sustained observation and revision, Reed’s working drawings are not preparatory in nature, but rather comprise meticulous process notes, color studies, and compositional diagrams. These are penned alongside observations on daily life, emotional, even sometimes self-critical responses to emerging ideas, and references to history, literature, film, and popular culture. By presenting the working drawings alongside the paintings, Terrible Idea makes visible the process that underlies Reed’s practice. The revisions, annotations, and discarded ideas that might otherwise remain unsaid become embedded in the paintings. The exhibition offers an opportunity to consider Reed’s work not only as finished objects, but as the materialization of an ongoing consideration of what painting can be. David Reed was born in 1946 in San Diego, California, and lives and works in New York. Recent museum exhibitions include ‘Vice and Reflection #2,’ Neues Museum Nurnberg, Germany (2019); ‘David Reed, Drawings. Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Switzerland (2018); ‘David Reed,’ Pérez Art Museum, Miami, FL (2016); ‘Artificial Light: David Reed,’ Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, Waltham, MA (2016); ‘Two by Two: David Reed & Mary Heilmann,’ Museum für Gegenwart, Hamburger, Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany (2015); ‘David Reed: The Mirror and The Pool,’ Haus Lange Kunstmuseen Krefeld, Germany (2015); ‘Heart of Glass, Paintings and Drawings 1967-2012,’ Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany (2012); among others. His work is included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY; Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; Art Institute of Chicago, IL; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; FRAC-Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France; Julia Stoschek Foundation, Düsseldorf/Berlin, Germany; Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Orange County Museum of Art, Costa Mesa, CA; Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond, VA; Roswell Museum and Art Center, NM; Sammlung Goetz, Munich, Germany; Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita, KS; among others.