David Reed
Kunstverein Hannover
Sophienstraße 2
January 25–March 2, 2002
Kunstmuseum St. Gallen
Museumstrasse 32
September 1–November 11, 2001
David Reed’s paintings play fast and loose with the conventions of abstraction and representation—an exercise that could be very dull—but the luxurious, even brazen appeal of his seemingly flattened-out yet liquescent brushstrokes remains irresistibly seductive. If the high-concept angle—paintings that “represent” abstraction, or paintings as part of a theatricalized, video-supplemented mise-en-scène—is less easy to swallow, it places Reed in a historical arc at once venerable (Gerhard Richter) and trendy (Douglas Gordon). Kunstmuseum curator Konrad Bitterli has assembled a retrospective of approximately fifty of Reed’s paintings and two installations. Prepare to submit to clever beauty.