By Christina Xan
Ever since Jasper took its Tiny Gallery Series online in June, we have received an outpouring of love for our artists. We are grateful for all the artists who have shared their stories and to the community that has joyously received them. And we’re excited to wrap up our year with a magical show from local artist, Roger Reed.
Reed was born and raised right here in Columbia and attended CA Johnson High School before moving to Richmond for college. “My father loved to draw when he was in grade school, and my stepmother loved to fool around with puzzles, “Reed shares, “But for the most part, art was not in my family.”
“…it was so beautiful it made me want to create something beautiful myself,”
Regardless, the now 69-year-old started drawing when he was only five or six. “A big brother friend of mine showed me a walking stick that he had just made, and it was so beautiful it made me want to create something beautiful myself,” Reed reflects. “The universe must have sent him to me because I was very poor and needing something to believe in.”
Whirlwind
After this interaction, the then elementary school boy experimented with drawing before moving onto soft pastels in high school. Though he enjoyed a variety of genres, portraits were what he practiced in the most. “When anybody needed artwork for their class project, they would come to me,” he recalls.
Due to this, Reed considered art school, but fate had different plans. “My art teacher in high school wanted me to go to art school, as did I, so I went to Virginia Union University thinking they had an art school and they didn’t,” he reveals, “They told me a lie to get me to play football for them.”
Since then, the self-taught artist has experimented with a variety of mediums. While he has worked with pencils, charcoals, ballpoint pens, oil pastels, and soft pastels, acrylics are his current go-to. “Acrylic on canvas gives me what all the other mediums give me and more,” Reed explains. “Acrylics dry rock hard, are cleaner, and the canvas is more durable; with acrylic I can paint over what I do not want and replace it with what I do.”
The Vines
Reed has chased his passion in a plethora of ways, and for sixty years, he did realist work—portraits, buildings, houses, and still-lifes. However, recently, he decided he wanted to switch the normal up, and for nearly 5 years, he’s been growing with abstract work.
“I went to abstract because I wanted to play a little bit more, not be so serious,” Reed says. “Sometimes I feel I'm working on the same subject all the time, but on the other hand, I keep moving to a new ideal—I have heard it said that real art has nothing to do with realism.”
Reed’s current show, aptly titled The Magic Universe, is a fresh interaction of color and shape. Startling turquoises weave within honeyed yellows. Sunset bulbs sit among twisting vines. Slivers of blue slip between collaged teardrops. Tendrils, spirals, and spheres reach out and invite you into their world.
The Piece
“I hope what people get art out of the show is nothing but art. I hope my art brings them joy and no pain. I hope they have fun just like I do,” Reed says. “I call the show Magic Universe because I see the magic in the work, and I see the Universe also.”
Reed has been sharing his love with Columbia for years and reflects back on a highlight of his career—a large acrylic painting he donated to an art auction in West Columbia was auctioned off for three thousand dollars. “The money was used to pay for scholarships,” Reed remembers, “The painting was a picture of the Kids Museum on Gervais Street.”
When it comes to the future, while Reed does not know what it will hold, he can say one thing confidently: “I do not think I will stop creating.”
Magic Movement
Two weeks are left to treat yourself or a loved one to a unique and irreplaceable holiday gift.
The Magic Universe, will be up until December 31st on the Jasper website: https://the-jasper-project.square.site/tiny-gallery
After the show, you can view Reed’s work on his Artrepeneur site: https://artrepreneur.com/p/7H9wnth9qMtTX9vME
Tiny Gallery will continue in 2021! The purpose of the Tiny Gallery Series is to allow artists an opportunity to show a selection of their smaller pieces of art offered at affordable price points attractive to beginning collectors and arts patrons with smaller budgets. If you are interested in showing at Tiny Gallery, please email Christina Xan at jasperprojectcolumbia@gmail.com