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| Guy Reid talks about his work and life, available as a podcast. Guy Reid podcast
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As a sculptor working in lime wood, Reid's work is informed by the figure in relation to its spatial, thematic and narrative contexts. His carvings are more often then not, left in the natural wood but can be both painted or partially painted.
Whilst studying for his MA in Theology at King's College London in 1995, Reid undertook a thesis on the relationship between revelation and art. The philosophical debate surrounding this subject has been a significant influence on his work and he has since lectured on the subject. Reid is facinated by Christain religious narrative and symbolism. Whilst suspicious of religion and its dangers, Reid feels that religion remains, at a profoundly subconscious level, something human beings search for, are intrigued by and engaged with both positively and negatively.
His universalising of traditional religious imagery such as the Madonna and Child, The Crucifixion and Adam, strip away the sentimentality and exclusivity of many of the traditional religious archetypes he refers to, but from within a theologically informed framework. It is this aspect of Reid's work which confuses and challenges both secular and religious interpretation.
Reid works from both live models and photographs. When working on portraits, the engagement he has with the individuals who sit for him is central to the work. This is reflected in the thorough and personal photographic basis of the work.
His repeated studies of his partner Andrew represent a tender and questioning examination of a life shared over 20 years and form the central focus for recent works. Reid sees this body of work as the ongoing documentation of a life.
It is the the body itself, both naked and clothed which facinates Reid, evoking the complex nature of being human. At times Reid's work carries an irresistible, contemplative force. Art critics have described certain pieces as beautiful and ugly in almost the same breath.
Reid's many relief carvings and studies bare a close relation to the preparatory drawings traditionally used by sculptors. The illusion of depth is created by a play with shadow, light and perspective.
Guy Reid lives and works in the countryside south of Toulouse with his partner Andrew, two dogs and a cat. Silence, place, time and space remain central to his work.
quote (Thomas Mertton On Slow Art 1948):
Hurry ruins saints as well as artists. They want quick success and they are in such a haste to get it that they cannot take time to be true to themselves. And when the madness is upon them they argue that their very haste is a species of integrity.
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Arriving from South Africa in 1967 aged 4, Reid was educated at the Priory Comprehensive Wimbledon. In 1975 he moved to Shropshire where he attended Meole Brace Secondary Modern School Shrewsbury and later the Priory Grammer School.
Having completed his first degree in Politics and History at North London Polytechnic he commenced an apprenticeship with the Spink Restoration workshop. In 1995 he completed an MA in Systematic Theology at King's College London.
Reid's reputation was established in the 1990s, with his first Solo Show in the summer of 1999 receiving strong reviews. Other exhibitions followed in London, Manchester, Yorkshire, Birmingham and Liverpool, and internationally in New York, Miami, Toulouse and Paris.
Public commissions include the controversial and much acclaimed nude Madonna and Child at St Matthew's Westminster, a figure of Adam for Mirfield College, Yorkshire, a sculpture of St Editha for Polesworth Abbey, 14 lifesize portraits held permanetly at the Avoncroft Museum Bromsgrove and a portrait of the painter Glynn Boyd Harte for the Art Workers Guild London. In 2006 Reid completed a naked crucifixiton for Saint George's Church Paris. A life sized relief carving of the same subject is currently being considered for installation by a Bendedictine abbey in the UK.
Reid's Madonna and Child has been featured in many publications and is also on the cover of the book, Art and Worship (SPCK, 2002).
Reid has been the subject of a documentary for Japanese Television on Contemporary British Artists and appears in Michael Petry's anthology Hidden Histories published by Artmedia Press 2004. The Museum of Liverpool Life lists Reid's Avoncroft corbels as being of international significance. One of these 14 life-sized portraits is of Reid himself and is featured on the National Gallery Website.The National Gallery
Reid's work can be found in important private collections worldwide.
For a fully comprehensive CV please email the artist from the contact page.
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| Guy Reid lives and works in both Benque d'Aurignac and Toulouse in the South of France |
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