John Reid

In the process of resolving a painting, the artist builds an energetic field — a charged platform that both grounds and propels their engagement with the work. This energy accumulates through a series of intuitive exchanges between control and surrender, accident and intention. As the painting evolves, it begins to assert its own presence, developing a rhythm that feels autonomous – a moment when the work feels alive and self-sustaining, as if it is painting itself. The paint

A great painting is not defined by its subject matter—it’s defined by its paint language . What makes a work truly powerful is not what  it shows, but how  it speaks through paint. The medium itself becomes the message: colour, rhythm, surface, and gesture come together to form a visual language that transcends description. When we talk about “paint language,” we’re talking about the artist’s fluency in translating emotion, perception, and experience into the physical reality

The idea of beauty without comfort is central to understanding art that matters. Paintings are not pets. They do not exist to soothe, to...

My work investigates the unexpected opening of space and the sense of wonder that arises in such moments. I am drawn to the chemistry...

To express one’s creative voice, the artist needs to create, or find, an internal playing field, a space where they can function in their...

There’s a violence to pure colour, like an assault. It’s almost a toxicity. It disarms us, …and yet we perceive it as a freedom, an...

In June 2022 I started to incorporate the use of texta marker pens and acrylic pens in my work. The main reason for this was to readdress...

I feel very strongly that what needs to happen when viewing a painting is a shift in consciousness, brief as it may be, a new perspective...

Walking through the Matisse: Life and Spirit exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW one can’t help being intoxicated by the continual...

I’ve always been obsessed and fascinated by Rothko’s final works on paper. For me these works are absolute perfection. They represent the...

“It’s not about the image. It’s about the wonder of the space you create. As an artist one must move on from Something to look at towards...

The realm of a painting has an interesting irony. A volley A chemistry outside our realm of logic that cancels and negates the notion of...

Art…great art, is so honest because of where it comes from and on some level, we recognise this honesty and we crave it. This is a...

Art’s role is to expand the conscious mind and awaken awareness so that sensation prevails over thought. One’s view on life and self...

The inspiration for this blog is from an extract from the movie AT ETERNITY’S GATE by Julian Schnabel. Of course, this is a movie and as...

Entry 1 Within the confines of the visible one can find a space, or is invited into a space, that is infinite …where the self is not...

This is a piece I wrote in 2014 on the work of Timothy Cook and yet it still holds true to how I respond to his paintings. The Dutch...

When we think of the placement of a mark such as a brushstroke, it is natural to engage thoughts of where to place and how to place. That...

In May of 2012, after an invitation by the then CEO of Mornington Shire Council, Mornington Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria, I spent...

I believe art, and in particular painting, acts as a catalyst for the development of the human mind, whether that be for the artist...