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Lesser well known but also an authoritative voice is ROBERT REID, (Alonzo, Nov. 10th-28th). His latest series of oils, Figures on the Beach, ought first to be seen and experienced, then talked about. For Reid is a subtle and deeply poetic iconographer. A clear translation into words would do violence to the viewer's joy of visual cognition of Reid's brilliant esthetic symbolism. His utterly human figures are the letters of the alphabet and numbers, involved in the entire human destiny, before birth, after death. The cleansing realm is the sea. The apocalyptic and transcendental battle rages above and below it and on earthly shores. Reid's colors are really hues which appear breathed on to the canvas in radiating light. This light curiously suggests dark shadowy areas even where one seems to see merely light surfaces. It takes an enormous amount of intelligence, tact, certainty and craftsmanship to convey such total vision with such refined discretion. 

ARTS MAGAZINE - NOVEMBER 1970