Bernie Reid (b. 1972 Stirling, Scotland) is an Edinburgh-based artist whose body of work includes mixed media paintings, trompe l’oeil decorative rugs, graphic screen prints and sculpture. Originally completing a diploma in Illustration in 1997 from Telford College, Edinburgh, Reid later returned to education and graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 2010 with a BFA in Painting and Drawing. Reid’s explorations of subculture, fashion, graffiti and eroticism can be seen throughout the work of his 30-year career as an illustrator and artist.

Reid often employs mediums and techniques associated with graffiti such as stencils and spray paint in his work. His mixed media paintings use these techniques alongside traditional oils to depict abstracted and psychedelic figurative forms influenced by the subcultural practices of sampling and hacking established culture in order to create new identities, the deviant sensibility of graffiti never being too distant from the outcome.

Themes of subcultures and eroticism also manifest in Reid’s graphic screen prints. Driven by a taste for control and technical efficiency and influenced by the stylings of mid-century advertising and Italian futurism – Reid uses exaggerated shapes and line work to create figurative illustrations inspired by urban society.

As an illustrator Reid worked on commissions for clients such as Wallpaper magazine, Stella McCartney, Telegraph Newspaper, Habitat, Liberty London, Boxfresh, ID magazine and has had his personal work featured in a number of illustration books and journals.

Reid’s work has been shown internationally in galleries which include MOMA New York, SFMOMA, 019 in Ghent, Serpentine Galleries in London, Garage Museum in Moscow and on the island of Stromboli for the Fiorucci Art Trust.

Additionally, Reid regularly facilitates projects for ArtLink, a local charity that aims to help people with mental health connect with a creative practice and others seeking to find wellness through art.



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