Shelley Reed, a recipient of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts’ Maud Morgan Award and a Pollack-Krasner Foundation Grant has an upcoming solo exhibition at the Sears-Peyton gallery in New York opening May 6. Her work is also slated for a group show opening June 3 at Danese Gallery, curated by April Gornik. This show includes work by Ross Bleckner, Eric Fischl, and Julie Heffernan among others. ArtSake tapped this very busy artist on the shoulder to ask her a few brief questions:
What artists’ work do you admire most but paint nothing like? Abstract painters who use color gorgeously: Rothko, Brice Marden, Sol Lewitt. I would love to see my work in a show with a color-oriented minimalist.
If forced to choose, would you be a magic marker, a crayon, or a #2 pencil? Definitely a crayon, colorful and messy. Though you’d never know that by my work.
What is the most surprising response to your art you have ever received? Well, the most common response is that people very carefully and diplomatically suggest that I add at least a bit of color. The most surprising response was when someone contacted me from my Web site and asked me to design their tattoo.
The unauthorized biography of your life is titled: ‘Try and Try Again and Enjoy Every Minute’
Do you live with any animals? As a kid I wanted to be a vet, and was determined to have many animals as soon as I left my animal-free (though happy) childhood home. Since I ended up marrying a man with severe allergies, we’re pretty limited. We finally adopted a gorgeous greyhound named Trevor, who’s a great guy (and hypo-allergenic).
How do you know when your work is done? It’s never really done, I just can’t bear to work on it anymore. They generally take a long time. I could always go back in and make bits better, but it would be soul-crushing and intensely boring not to move on.
What do you listen to while you paint? A wide variety of things. NPR, Leonard Cohen, rock, and yes, Broadway musicals.
What are you currently reading? Just finished Old Filth by Jane Gardam and The Emigrants by W.G. Sebald. Nothing to do with art, but terrific reads.
Something is amiss amidst all this beauty and delight
May 6 – June 12, 2010
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 6, 5-7 pm
Sears-Peyton Gallery, NYC
Image credit: All images of paintings courtesy of Shelley Reed.
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