Scott Reeder
Untitled (Pasta Painting)
2013
Untitled (Pasta Painting)
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Reeder’s works often start with language—and his Pasta Paintings are no different. After the phrase for the title came through his head, the artist set about trying to figure out how to make a mark with pasta. These paintings are the result, made using the pasta as something of a stencil, with the paint being applied after the noodles have been scattered on the painting’s blank surface. The serene, patterned surfaces that this process creates are at odds, somewhat, with the simplicity and the absurdity of their making.
Detroit-based artist Scott Reeder threads his multimedia works through with humor and a dry sense of irony. His output ranges widely, and includes sculpture, painting, and curatorial projects among other things. No matter his medium, there is always a certain acerbic wit to Reeder’s work—a wit that can be both blithe and slightly confrontational. It’s a sense of humor that, as an artist, he traces back to the visual puns of Duchamp, or to the simple, deadpan forms of John McCracken and Blinky Palermo. For Reeder, the punch line is often the practice of making art itself; he mines the absurdity of the artist’s life for works that speak both comically and poignantly, at times, to the creative process.