Terrible Idea — David Reed

Rodder presents Terrible Idea, David Reed’s debut exhibition with the gallery. Over the course of a career spanning more than five decades, the artist’s signature approach to painting has established him as a leading figure among the process-based avant-garde.

The title is derived from an annotation in one of Reed’s working drawings included in the exhibition. Rooted in sustained observation and revision, Reed’s working drawings are not preparatory in nature but comprise meticulous process notes, color studies and compositional diagrams, penned alongside observations on daily life, emotional and sometimes self-critical responses to emerging ideas, and references to history, literature, film and popular culture.

By presenting the working drawings alongside the paintings, Terrible Idea makes visible the process that underlies Reed’s practice. The revisions, annotations and discarded ideas that might otherwise remain unsaid become embedded in the paintings, offering an opportunity to consider Reed’s work not only as finished objects but as the materialization of an ongoing consideration of what painting can be.