Parallel to the presentation “David Reed #117-2” at our Collectors Room in Zurich, this Online Viewing Room offers a deeper insight into the work of David Reed, one of the most important figures in postwar American painting. Reed's work moves between gestural abstraction, color field painting, and a conceptual analysis of the medium. At a time when the genre of painting was increasingly being called into question, he developed an independent visual language that drew on the gestural tradition of Abstract Expressionism while also incorporating cinematic perception, serial structure, and media-theoretical reflection. His dynamic and often highly processed compositions combine painterly gesture with a precisely controlled surface, functioning at once as analytical commentary on image-making in the age of reproducibility.

As the title of the presentation suggests, the work #117-2 is at the heart of our exhibition. The acrylic painting on canvas, over two meters wide, dates from 1976 and was recently acquired directly from the Reed Studio in New York. It is an early and historically significant work that emerged shortly after the so-called Brushstroke Paintings (1974–75)—a key phase in Reed’s artistic development. #117-2 holds a special place within his oeuvre, marking a transition toward a new painterly language. We are very pleased to present this important work to the public in Zurich for the first time and to place it in dialogue with other pieces.

The painting #117-2 was created in 1976 during a pivotal phase in David Reed’s artistic development—immediately following his groundbreaking Brushstroke Paintings (1974–75). Born in San Diego in 1946, Reed moved to New York in 1966, where he studied at the newly established New York Studio School. There, he participated in Philip Guston’s legendary painting seminar and studied under Milton Resnick, gaining deep insight into the tradition of Abstract Expressionism.

In 1971, Reed settled permanently in New York—a city that, at the time, was undergoing a profound renegotiation of painting as a medium, shaped by formal dissolution, media-theoretical reflection, and conceptual rigor. Against this backdrop, Reed’s Brushstroke Paintings were an attempt to create a form of painting firmly rooted in the present. Executed in a single, swift working process, they aimed to overcome illusionistic effects. At the same time, Reed realized that this seemingly spontaneous process was interrupted by his own awareness: as he painted, he observed himself painting.

This tension between spontaneous gesture and self-reflective control culminates in #117-2: on the right half of the canvas, a broad brushstroke, pulled across the wet ground, cuts through the composition with expressive immediacy, while the left half is structured by a strict geometric arrangement. The work exemplifies the inherent dialectic in Reed’s practice—between gestural expression and conceptual intent, between loss of control and its deliberate assertion.

Within the context of 1970s art, #117-2 represents a striking moment in the redefinition of painterly practice.

«As I work on paintings I make what I call «working drawings», I do what I call «color studies» and it gives me a way to try out different options, test different things. I don't like the ideas that paintings are isolated and just about themself. I think they always absorbe the world around them and then expand out into the world. I wanted to really show that and make it seem like I was pulling the light and color into the room so you were not even sure where the paintings ended and the view outside the window began.» David Reed, 2016

An essential component of David Reed’s artistic practice lies in his Working Drawings and Color Studies, which go far beyond mere preparatory sketches. They are independent reflections on the painterly process and reveal the conceptual core of his work. While Reed’s paintings are often defined by physically executed gestures, immediate presence, and carefully controlled surface effects, his drawings and color studies show the intellectual engagement with structure, composition, and color that precedes the act of painting itself.

These works on paper document how Reed experiments with rhythmic lines, expansive movements, and subtle color modulations. The Color Studies in particular highlight the precision of his painterly language—every hue is tested, every combination examined for its visual impact. The Working Drawings often cannot be directly mapped onto a finished painting; rather, they form a multilayered archive of thoughts, movements, and decisions. They illustrate the transition from conceptual idea to physical execution.

David Reed’s works are characterized by luminous colors, gestural brushstrokes, and a captivating interplay between painting and cinematic aesthetics. The use of alkyd—a fast-drying synthetic binder—allows Reed to layer multiple coats with precision, creating a distinctive sense of depth and transparency.

In paintings such as #294-2 (1990–1991), painterly traditions merge with a contemporary approach to image composition and surface. The combination of oil and alkyd on linen gives Reed’s works an unusual materiality that oscillates between classical and modern forms of expression.

David Reed's work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions worldwide since the mid-1970s. Important presentations of his work have recently shown at the Neues Museum Nürnberg, Nuremberg (2019), Pérez Art Museum, Miami, Rose Art Museum, Waltham (both 2016), Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2015, with Mary Heilmann), Museum Haus Lange Krefeld (2015), or Kunstmuseum Bonn (2012). Furthermore, his paintings have been part of authoritative exhibitions on contemporary painting such as "Painting 2.0: Painting in the Information Age", shown in Munich and Vienna in 2016.

Important collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Guggenheim Museum, New York, the Metropolitan Museum, New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, the Kunstmuseum St.Gallen or the Museum moderner Kunst, Frankfurt own works by David Reed.

For more information about David Reed please klick here.