b. 1987, Hornchurch.

 

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Rob Reed’s practice is that of a ‘Romantic Realist’, depicting a sense of melancholy deriving from the loss of Romanticism’s admiration of the sublime found in nature - Re-evaluating the emotion of the romantic trait to seek the essence of everyday life. His subject matter is about bringing to light aspects that we consider the mundane and moments which we usually disregard or miss brought to attention for audiences to develop a new sense of appreciation for such. 

 

“I aim to create paintings that offer a re-evaluation of a scenery and the discovery of its symbolic qualities which can present an environment for solitary contemplation for audiences; in a way reassessing the modern sense of the idyllic landscape in the often overlooked spaces in suburban common places”

 

His most recent series of paintings examine the numerous paths, routes, passages, trails and alleys found within the ‘backyard’ common place. Exploring how these often overlooked remote tracks can serve as the in-between connection prompting individuals away from one place into a non specific place, a far more removed idyllic environment yet always remaining in their local surroundings – to identify Romantic traits of escapism for a localised audience.

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"Although my studies are based on my own personal experiences or observations from the surrounding landscape I intend to not make the locations known so that they instead strive to serve as ‘the everywhere’ or ‘nowhere’ places of ambiguous familiarity capturing the unconscious mood presenting a presenting a psychological space rather than a topological description"

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