Jamie Reid - Waiheke painter
Jamie Reid in his Waiheke Island studio.
At a young age Jamie Reid was involved in the arts and trained as a prop-maker and stage manager working at Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland. In 2001 he came to Aotearoa New Zealand to visit a friend in Raglan and hasn’t looked back. In 2011 he retrained as a primary school teacher and relocated to Waiheke Island to be a primary school teacher.
Artisphere: How long have you been painting?
Jamie Reid: “I have been painting for as long as I can remember. One of my first memories of pre-school is being given an easel with some paper attached by big metal clips, a smock, some yellow, blue and red paint and a brush. I distinctly remember the sense of freedom and joy I experienced as I mixed and applied the paint. The teacher literally had to drag me away to lunch. The exhilaration I felt then is the same as I feel now when I paint.
I have been painting as an adult for the last 25 years. I turned to painting as a reaction to losing both my parents at the age of 22. Painting was a way for me to process my loss and also as a form of escapism. I read at the time about how having a ‘thread’ through your life was a way of healing yourself. I chose painting because it came naturally to me Plus, the way you can communicate without words also appealed.
A: What does your work aim to say, if anything? It doesn’t have to “say” anything but moreover, what does it say to you?
JR: My work began as being deeply personal and therapeutic. Paintings seemed to just fall out of me at that time. However, friends who saw the paintings were encouraging, so I gifted a few. I realised the abstract shapes, colours and textures I was painting for myself were connecting with other people.
Arriving in New Zealand I felt a real connection with the land. As I drove into Raglan for the first time, I had an overwhelming feeling of being home. The harbour stretching out to sea, with the black sand highlighting its course and the majestic Karioi rising above to survey the whole scene was magnificent. My work then began to focus on the landscape around me, especially the connection of land and sea. I soon came to realise that to mean great New Zealand painters were equally smitten with our landscapes. Don Binney, Rita Angus and Colin McCahon to mention a few.
A: Who are your biggest artistic influences?
JR: Initially, I was obsessed with the New York colour field painters like Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still and especially Barnett Newman. I loved how their huge canvases engulfed the viewer and communicated often ineffable emotions. With only colour, texture and simple forms, these artists were connecting with me on a really deep level. From there I found out about the next generation of New York abstract expressionist painters like Jasper Johns, Frank Stella and Andy Warhol. I was lucky enough to go to New York in 2003 and see a lot of these paintings up close (even though MoMA was closed for restoration!).
Another big influence has been the British painter Bridget Riley, best known for her Op Art paintings that play tricks with your eyes. When I lived in Glasgow in the late 90’s, I would regularly walk past a gallery that had several of her paintings, and I must have stopped to look at these mesmerising paintings 30 or 40 times. This taught me paintings could be about contemplation. In an interview I once read, Riley said something that really stuck with me: “… there is no point lying in bed and dreaming up ideas, it is only through the act of painting that ideas can truly evolve and emerge.” That is a sentiment that has stayed with me and one that has always guided my own painting.
Since moving to New Zealand, several painters have really influenced me. Ralph Hotere with his minimalist, activist roots, and connection to the land. Max Gimblett with his Zen thinking, quatrefoils and colour genius. Gretchen Albrecht with her colour genius, textures and vastness. Shane Cotton for exploring who we are as a nation, and Bill Hammond with his birds, his histories and his love of Phthalocyanine blue/green.
To see more of Jamie’s work go to: https://jamiereid.studio/.
