Elliot Reed

THREE WORKS
ELLIOT REED
open to the public
one viewer at a time

OCD Chinatown, NYC
March 25 — May 10 2021
Saturdays and Sundays between 12
and 6 pm or by appointment

Interview: https://www.x-traonline.org/online/pyx-and-other-words

Like every living thing, Elliot Reed struggles between present and past.

But instead of kneading and glossing this conflict into seeming clarity, Reed makes a virtue of vagueness. His work seeks to have 50-ply blanket of layers, like archaeological artifacts whose discoveries elicit more questions than they answer.

The 29-year-old Reed might be better known for his performance works, but the only performance here is imaginary – via “Drawing,” the centerpiece of the show, which lived one life as a dance floor before retiring into wall piece objecthood.

Even the title of the show, Three Works, is a piece of misinformation. Actually, there are five.

Because Reed’s works chafe at definition even as they court it, no attempt will be made to decrypt them here. Instead, there are two helpful lists of layers which the works variously inhabit and the tensions they explore.

1. Drawing (2019-2021) approximately 4ft x 9ft - wood, latex paint, indigo, sweat, rubber, blood, saliva, dirt, velcro

2. Sheath (2021) - hand-studded leather jacket, 24k gold hex spikes, brass studs, display stand

3. Concrete (2020-21) - flowers, metal shelf, paper, cellophane, ink

4. Untitled (Legs) (2021) - framed set of two matte photo prints

5. Untitled (Umbrellas) (2021) - framed set of two matte photo prints


The works have 24 layers, as:

• plinth
• calendar
• body
• envy
• dance
• tea leaves
• sex
• trash
• revision
• cryptography
• minimalism
• collection
• memory
• homage
• history
• set
• exclusion
• shibboleth
• evidence
• chic
• perversity
• monument
• pyx
• legend

The works have 32 tensions, between:

• suggested and stated
• tangible and untouchable
• inclusion and exclusion
• ab-ex and minimalism
• joy and sadness
• theatrical and permanent
• visible and invisible
• past/plasticity, present/plasterity, future/posterity
• smudged and pristine
• loss and leftover
• peace and violence
• flux and stasis
• race and erasion
• packaging and prize
• communal and contemplative
• public and personal
• fabrication rate and approval rate
• lazy/passive and industrious/active
• artifact and human
• sculpture and painting
• utilized floor and fetishized wall
• purpose and accident
• valueless and value-added
• artwork and film screen
• flotsam and jetsam
• digital and manual
• horizontal and vertical
• simple and multiple
• show and shambles
• literal and abstract
• myth and truth
• life and death