John Reed in Paradise
( cat Chesterfield and bottle)
by Joesph Ferris
( cat Chesterfield and bottle)
by Joesph Ferris
| John Reed and Danny Herrera spinningdiscs with Eurasian dancing girls |
| John Kelly Reed A compassionate Bohemian (The penultimate hipster) |
| Michael Bowen about John Reed |
Clik above for interview
By John Reed John Reed invokes the ancient Mexican sense of the
macabre with a drawing of a ferocious, partially skeletalized torso alongside a
horrific poem presided over by vultures
macabre with a drawing of a ferocious, partially skeletalized torso alongside a
horrific poem presided over by vultures
| 'Reed's Ride' |
| John Reed at Chromo's Bar, Pasadena Thanksgiving 1979 photo M. Wilson |
| John Reed, Larkspur 1961 photo Wallace Berman |
John Reed 1960
from 'A Kind of Beatness'
M. Green
from 'A Kind of Beatness'
M. Green
Dear John Reed suffered early as a result of child abuse. His dad was a wallpaper hanger and poet in Venice and
would beat him severely and no one knows what affect it had on him. We just know that anger was not inherent in John.
He was passive and kind to all who knew him, always with a smile and sensitivity to people he knew.
John Reed was a friend to us, and was an artist in the shadows of his friends who went on to achieve degrees of fame.
John Reed was a good collector of junk; he would forage from buildings to be demolished, including scavenging the
102 Brewery & The Fox Theater (The Ghost of The Fox Theater) and using the scraps from buildings to create art with
friends Ed Kienholz, George Herms, Wallace Berman, and others. And he would also sell scrap metals. Michael Duncan
notes in his book Semina Culture (McKenna/Duncan) that it took,"real field work to find objects by some of these
people." One was John Reed, "a casualty of the group, who ended up homeless." Duncan found two handmade books
by Reed in the late curator Walter Hopps' basement. Some things, even if found, could not be borrowed, such as a
1949 black painting with crucifix by Allen Ginsburg that was too fragile to lend.
Over the years John lived with Michael Bowen, (who introduced John to Ed Kienholz and Wallace Berman). John off
and on lived at The Ferus Gallery, helped Wallace Berman build his art studio in Topanga, lived at George Herms and
also at Ed Kienholz pad (Topanga). One day at The Troubadour Club in Hollywood, John and Ed were drinking and
ended up having a falling out after trying to make the moves on a girl whom they had been talking with. John moved out
after that and a rift continued between the two, but when talking about Ed, John had nothing but admiration for him.
For awhile John lived at Walter Hopps home (a Greene and Greene builders home) while Hopps was Curator/Director
at Pasadena Art Museum which was across from the artist Richard Jackson's home, with whom John had made friends.
Later he moved to the studios in the Braley Building, (35 S. Raymond Ave, Pasadena) a converted office (John's pad)
which was a part of the art studios of Meg Cole, Rosemary Reynolds, Gail Gibson, Maura Sheehan, Joesph Ferris, Skip
Finnell, Michael Wilson and poet Tom Dillon. This is when in the 70's, Pasadena Old Town had 400 artist's living in a
four block area, a thriving scene.
He would come back late at night and put records on loudly and play the trombone waking up the building. His tube
type amp made with old glass tubes looked like a Kienholz construction, but it put out the sound down the open air
skylight.
He used to love wearing black T-shirts but wore them till they were threadbare. He found some white ones at the thrift
store and dyed them black, but the dye didn't set so he walked around with black skin from the dye for quite awhile. He
had many good friends in Pasadena. One time he was camping out in the bushes at an engineering firm, and when he
got back, his stuff was all stacked with an eviction notice tacked on a bush. He laughed about that frequently.
Gentrification came, and the Braley building was bought in 1980, the year John became homeless. John, despite living
on the streets, always was a compassionate person, trying always to stay upbeat and finding the humor everywhere.
Despite that outward appearance, friends Richard Jackson and Doug Brutsche, (who was a great friend to John and
gave him employment from time to time) came to the conclusion recently that John didn't want anyone messing around
with his downward spiral, and that the abuse suffered young affected his entire life. Thus, he had little drive or ambition
to make anything of his artistic abilities, which would deny him any status as a contemporary of his friends who went on
to become recognized.
John and his art is featured in 'Semina Culture', the book of the visual artistry of Wallace Berman, who was a catalyst
of the beat era and traveled through many a different world, transferring ideas and dreams from one circle to the next.
John was a part of this community, and was featured in Semina three times. Semina was a free-form art and poetry
journal Berman published.There were nine issues between 1955 and 1964, distributed to friends and family. It defines
the engeries of a still potent strand of post-war beat counter-culture. He also will be featured in Ferus Gallery 'A Place
to Begin' by Kristine McKenna. The book to be released in August 2008.
Michael Wilson
Mendocino/ 2008
would beat him severely and no one knows what affect it had on him. We just know that anger was not inherent in John.
He was passive and kind to all who knew him, always with a smile and sensitivity to people he knew.
John Reed was a friend to us, and was an artist in the shadows of his friends who went on to achieve degrees of fame.
John Reed was a good collector of junk; he would forage from buildings to be demolished, including scavenging the
102 Brewery & The Fox Theater (The Ghost of The Fox Theater) and using the scraps from buildings to create art with
friends Ed Kienholz, George Herms, Wallace Berman, and others. And he would also sell scrap metals. Michael Duncan
notes in his book Semina Culture (McKenna/Duncan) that it took,"real field work to find objects by some of these
people." One was John Reed, "a casualty of the group, who ended up homeless." Duncan found two handmade books
by Reed in the late curator Walter Hopps' basement. Some things, even if found, could not be borrowed, such as a
1949 black painting with crucifix by Allen Ginsburg that was too fragile to lend.
Over the years John lived with Michael Bowen, (who introduced John to Ed Kienholz and Wallace Berman). John off
and on lived at The Ferus Gallery, helped Wallace Berman build his art studio in Topanga, lived at George Herms and
also at Ed Kienholz pad (Topanga). One day at The Troubadour Club in Hollywood, John and Ed were drinking and
ended up having a falling out after trying to make the moves on a girl whom they had been talking with. John moved out
after that and a rift continued between the two, but when talking about Ed, John had nothing but admiration for him.
For awhile John lived at Walter Hopps home (a Greene and Greene builders home) while Hopps was Curator/Director
at Pasadena Art Museum which was across from the artist Richard Jackson's home, with whom John had made friends.
Later he moved to the studios in the Braley Building, (35 S. Raymond Ave, Pasadena) a converted office (John's pad)
which was a part of the art studios of Meg Cole, Rosemary Reynolds, Gail Gibson, Maura Sheehan, Joesph Ferris, Skip
Finnell, Michael Wilson and poet Tom Dillon. This is when in the 70's, Pasadena Old Town had 400 artist's living in a
four block area, a thriving scene.
He would come back late at night and put records on loudly and play the trombone waking up the building. His tube
type amp made with old glass tubes looked like a Kienholz construction, but it put out the sound down the open air
skylight.
He used to love wearing black T-shirts but wore them till they were threadbare. He found some white ones at the thrift
store and dyed them black, but the dye didn't set so he walked around with black skin from the dye for quite awhile. He
had many good friends in Pasadena. One time he was camping out in the bushes at an engineering firm, and when he
got back, his stuff was all stacked with an eviction notice tacked on a bush. He laughed about that frequently.
Gentrification came, and the Braley building was bought in 1980, the year John became homeless. John, despite living
on the streets, always was a compassionate person, trying always to stay upbeat and finding the humor everywhere.
Despite that outward appearance, friends Richard Jackson and Doug Brutsche, (who was a great friend to John and
gave him employment from time to time) came to the conclusion recently that John didn't want anyone messing around
with his downward spiral, and that the abuse suffered young affected his entire life. Thus, he had little drive or ambition
to make anything of his artistic abilities, which would deny him any status as a contemporary of his friends who went on
to become recognized.
John and his art is featured in 'Semina Culture', the book of the visual artistry of Wallace Berman, who was a catalyst
of the beat era and traveled through many a different world, transferring ideas and dreams from one circle to the next.
John was a part of this community, and was featured in Semina three times. Semina was a free-form art and poetry
journal Berman published.There were nine issues between 1955 and 1964, distributed to friends and family. It defines
the engeries of a still potent strand of post-war beat counter-culture. He also will be featured in Ferus Gallery 'A Place
to Begin' by Kristine McKenna. The book to be released in August 2008.
Michael Wilson
Mendocino/ 2008
Juice from a Sunkissed Albatross
| Portrait of John Reed, by Lawrence Jordan, 1964 |
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