Bernie Reid: Killer Opus
Analogue Books
5 January - 3 February
Edinburgh UK

Reviewed by Rea Cris

Bernie Reid is best know for his stencil graffiti work especially in relation to fashion models, where he photographs models and then stencils their images onto walls around a city. In this exhibition he hoped to move away from this and reinvent himself. The exhibit consists of seven prints that feature cartoonish characters, far removed from the world of moody models and their stenciled replicas.

The exhibit as a whole has a very tactile quality, where not only your sense of sight but also that of touch is awakened. Reds and yellows dominate as well as a surprisingly warm gray, which I'd imagine, if touched, would feel like an old ailing cat. The reds and yellow would feel like worn velvet.

But possibility this sensuality is brought on from another source, that of the sensuality of flesh. Two of the prints consist of obese women. One is a poster for the Fire Engines band, which makes you wonder why posters are no longer often hand-made in a Toulouse Lautrec renaissance. The obese woman is dressed in nothing but an old fashion fire fighter's helmet, bending forward on all fours, while little cartoonish men operate ladders and rescue lift from her butt. She seem oblivious to the fact that she is being used as a fire engine or even of the presence of these tiny men. The pose almost seems borrowed from a grotesque porn magazine as she leers out for the viewer's attention. It also doesn't help that Reid has coloured her...you guess it... fire engine red. She takes centre stage over the band as their name fades into the background.

“Bossa Radion” is another obese woman floating in a sky of golden yellow and red, banishing sword, shield and helmet like a Roman legionary. She charges forward triumphantly with her naked body covered in cellulite wrinkles. We can’t help but stare at this image: it is the same fascination we have with freak shows, the deformed or visibly diseased. Though we don't admit it we would love the opportunity to stare, not out of spite, pity or evil, but curiosity. And maybe because “Bossa Radion” is a screen print and fictional, we lap up the chance to stare to our hearts content with no guilty feelings to struggle with.

“Polish Girl” literally rises up like smoke. She is a mesh of thick dark lines masking her breast and dainty calves, the pattern reminiscent of cliché psychedelic couches. But nothing in her appearance should indicate that she is Polish or Scottish or anything at all. What is endearingly frustrating about this image is the sense that this is someone’s personal memory of a moment shared with this girl and we are none the wiser for knowing what it is. We can only be jealous.

Though small, the exhibit is well thought out, almost calculated, and proves a definite beginning to Reid's new artistic endeavors.

http://www.analoguebooks.co.uk/
www.skinnydip.co.uk (click on "illustration")
http://www.flickr.com/photos/analoguebooks/sets/72157594423511717/

tonya wrote:

I agree. Even though he is amazing with stencils, I think that his new works, which look more like twisted children's storybook illustrations are far more interesting. I want to see more!