Abigail Reed‘s large scale oil paintings portray animals poised in their ultimate state, standing like statues, they demand your attention. She sees them as representatives of “the Other”, something non-human which puts us in our place, stills our anxieties, reminds us we’re not the only show in town and generally urges us to make a little more room in our imaginations for things which aren’t related to our own selves. Reed mainly works in monochrome. This helps the images to stand out, stand stark in a colourful environment. They are neither exact representations nor abstractions, they come in-between, in a world of their own. The paint has been allowed to flow, nothing is fixed. Dripping and cracking revealing its accidental, volatile nature. She has to work fast to capture the form. This exposes not only the beautiful medium of oil paint but engages us to look further at the subject. Look through under the layers and unveiled is something more than just an exterior. Strong but fragile, these animals reveal the vulnerability of life, the primal instinct of survival. An animal can appear small or fragile but on closer inspection hold immense power and resistance, mightier than all. ‘…. To be made to feel small is, to be sure, a painful daily reality of the human playground. But to be made to feel small by something beautiful, noble, accomplished,……is to have wisdom presented to us along with a measure of delight.‘ (Alain de Botton, A Point of View: In praise of the zoo)