Jim Reid

About the Artist
Jim Reid’s landscape paintings highlight the complex relationship between culture and nature. His work is plein air, experiential and immersed in process. He honours the natural world’s brawn and mystery, its machinations that lie beyond our understanding – that are not even nameable*, yet as a member of modern society he is complicit in its destruction.
For most of his life, Reid has explored a particular tract of forest on the Niagara Escarpment, where his studio is now situated. The land was scarred by historic quarrying activity, but the forest regenerated. In recent decades this forest has continued to transform in the wake of climate change. Reid’s paintings in the series Forgotten Places (1983-present) form a constant thread that reveals his devotion to this landscape.
The Peel Plain is a heritage farming region south of the Escarpment. Distant horizons still exist here but these are threatened by advancing urban development. Reid’s Peel Plain series (2014-2020) both celebrates and eulogizes these open spaces.
The 1990’s series Terraforms was a merging of paint, collage and constructed elements which focussed on the ground itself. The sites of these works are dense with time and personal memory. Reid re-enacts their ancient stories and, through his choice of materials, acknowledges the prevalence of technology.
Terraforms toured Ontario public galleries as a solo show. Collections include Canada Council Art Bank, Art Gallery of Hamilton, Peel Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Peterborough, MacLaren Art Centre, Art Gallery of Guelph and Whyte Museum.
Forgotten Places

Jim Reid
Tangle
2022
acrylic on canvas
30 x 30 inches

Jim Reid
28-6-20
2020
acrylic on paper
36 x 36 inches (framed)

Jim Reid
Exquisite Entropy, 14-10-10
2010
acrylic on canvas
82 x 108 inches

Jim Reid
Forest 1-9-10
2010
acrylic on canvas
36 x 48 inches

Jim Reid
Feral 15-10-07
2007
acrylic on canvas
84 x 72 inches
(Private Collection)
The Peel Plain
Jim Reid
Peel Plain
2020
watercolour & pastel on paper
framed behind museum glass
19 x 45 inches (framed)
Jim Reid
Sydenham Lake 1
2018
watercolour & pastel on paper
framed behind museum glass
42 x 62 inches (framed)
Jim Reid
Peel Plain 9-1-18
2018
watercolour & pastel on paper
framed behind museum glass
42 x 62 inches (framed)
Jim Reid
Peel Plain 29-11-17,
W from Mississauga Rd, S of King St
2017
watercolour and pastel on paper
13 x 39 inches
Jim Reid
Peel Plain 7-6-16
#1 SE from Torbram, N. of Old School Rd.
2016
acrylic and pastel on Arches paper
31.5 x 41.5 inches (framed)
Jim Reid
Peel Plain 30-3-16-1
2016
acrylic, pastel and graphite on paper
25 x 35 inches
(Collection of Peel Art Gallery)
Terraforms

Jim Reid
Terraform study
2000
acrylic and collage on plywood
30 x 30 inches
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* Updated March, 2022
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