Alan Reid - ‘An Absent Monument’
25 January - 12 March 2014
Alan Reid - ‘An Absent Monument’
25 January - 15 March 2014
Mary Mary is pleased to present a solo exhibition of new work by New York-based Alan Reid, his second at the gallery,
presenting a series of new paintings and a large-scale, bas-relief mural. The 20-metre mural, spanning three walls of the
gallery, explores the artist’s fascination with surface appliqué and its incongruent, provocative relation to a support
ground.
For this exhibition, Reid has withdrawn the female protagonist his exhibitions to date have centered around. ‘An Absent
Monument’ looks at the absence of Reid’s female character, continuing past themes of camouflage, of social masks and
substitutions, of chameleons, absences and of being incognito.
The mural, ‘La Notte (1961)’, titled after Michelangelo Antonioni’s film depicting a psychologically alienated bourgeois
couple, is designed around a large-scale patterned print. The pattern, columns of giraffe’s spots, is used variously as a
tableau, stage set and a screen upon which Reid can add a series of suggestive objects: wooden moustaches, a tea set,
croissants, a mask, shells, vases, etc. In addition to the sculptures and having commissioned fashion designer Moire
Conroy to design clothing for the ‘absent character’ within the exhibition, several works have articles of clothing strewn
on them, as if we have become privy to the discarding of her clothes.
Reid’s interest in the idea of private versus public selves, and the social masks we wear is here evidenced in the giraffe
pattern, a disguise extended to an absurd end, exposing giraffes as an unfortunate candidate for camouflage – big
ridiculous animals trying to blend in with their surroundings. In ‘La Notte (1961)’, giraffe camouflage is used
simultaneously to perform the role of room, of setting, and to act as character. The column, a form evoking architecture,
text (a magazine column), and biology (giraffe’s neck) in this setting forms an indeterminate foundation upon which the
artist can layer meanings.
Alongside ‘La Notte (1961)’, Reid presents new paintings taking the theme of an absent subject as a conceptual starting
point. The paintings, employing silhouettes of Henry Moore sculptures, are all non-functional clocks – the face of a
stopped clock, a stand-in for an absent face.
The paintings here pursue a line of thinking incorporating modernist art history, painting’s echo in culture, modes of
desire and the linguistic instability of painting. Reid’s personal and analytic iconography commandeers art-historical
motifs, subverting and employing them in varying degrees. His references are absurd, but also speak to aspects of polite
society, hospitality, and the way humans inevitably read and misunderstand each other. The work delves into apparent
contradictions, seeking to continuously add elements, whether sculptural or functional, figural or abstract, avoiding
categorization, with each addition to the work seeking to subvert easy explanation.
Born in 1976 in Texas, Reid lives and works in New York. Recent exhibitions include ‘Echo Avalanche,’ Patricia Low
Contemporary, Gstaad; ‘POEMS,’ Lisa Cooley, New York (both 2013); ‘The Chameleon,’ Gallery A Palazzo, Brescia, Italy
(2012) & ‘Boudoir Concrete,’ Mary Mary, Glasgow (2011). Group shows include ‘Air de Pied-a-terre,’ organised by LIsa Cooley
& Alan Reid, Lisa Cooley, New York; ‘Today,’ Lisa Cooley, New York (both 2013); ‘Keno Twins,’ curated by Michael Bauer,’
Barriera, Turin; ‘Beholder,’ Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh (both 2011). Forthcoming projects include ‘We Play at Paste,’ a
group exhibition at Lisa Cooley, New York. Reid will also show a selection of works with Mary Mary alongside Gerda
Scheepers at Miart, Milan in March 2014.
Mary Mary would like to thank independent fashion designer & artist Moire Conroy for her contribution to this
exhibition.