“Untitled,” by Carl Reed, 1981. (from (
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"Carl Reed was born in Nyack, NY, and grew up in the Hudson Valley. His earliest memories are of his father building an addition to their cottage, and the panoramic view from this site over the Hudson River’s Tappan Zee bay and eastern highlands beyond. Having drawn regularly since childhood, the study of art history and the excitement of manipulating substantial materials attracted him to sculpture as a college student, and remain central to his aesthetic. Although Reed’s work is termed abstract, direct expression without illusion and figurative gestures based on drawing underlie his compositions. Living for years in Wyoming and Colorado, a region where high plains meet mountains, heightened Reed’s interest in the dramatic sculptural effects of western light, texture, scale, and climate. Surfaces left by natural forces and the marks of tools remain in his finished work, professing those actions as aesthetic conditions and inviting vicarious participation by the viewer.
While many become artists in rebellion against parental expectations, Reed continues an unbroken lineage of artists, craftspeople, and designers. His artist mother came to this country from Sweden, where her family had engaged for generations in such related disciplines as engineering, architecture, building, farming and weaving. His mother’s parents were products of the Arts and Crafts Movement, and he spent influential time as a child on their farm, absorbing lasting impressions of rural life with Nordic inflections: nothing wasted, the natural world closely observed, restrained design, and equal respect given o both manual labor and the life of the mind. His father was also an artist, descended from farmers and tradesman who included both a maker of wooden patterns for agricultural machinery and a builder of covered bridges. Reed still uses some tools in making his sculpture that belonged to those ancestors. He recently collaborated with his son, a landscape architect, on a large integrative sculptural landscape.
Reed’s work reflects a strong belief in sculpture as art that must be conceived and experienced in full three-dimensional space. A formalist, he often uses forms to activate space, particularly in public work, which is on a scale that people can enter and physically engage. His public projects also frequently incorporate landscaping, lighting, water, and such functional elements as sculptural seating, in order to fully compose a site and make it viable at any hour and in all seasons. His grounding in Scandinavian aesthetics has been enriched by finding direct relationships with Japan, particularly regarding austerity, the transcendent capacity of humble materials, and value gained through age, wear, and exposure. Finally, his work negotiates the intersection of traditional techniques and materials with modern technology and contemporary thinking. By example, he works in metal, stone and wood using both ancient hand tools and specialized power equipment. Conceptually, his exploratory, fragmentary objects ask questions and invite personal interpretation rather than providing clearly defined answers." (from (
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