Large lives told in limewood

Teleri Lloyd-Jones speaks to Guy Reid about his forthcoming exhibition

It was as an 18-year-old on a trip to Germany that sculptor Guy Reid had a revelation. Seeing the work of Tilman Reimenschneider, and other early Renaissance limewood sculptors, it dawned on him that their subjects weren’t ‘idealised bodies in marble, they were village people, and [through the sculptures] they were elevated almost to saints. I find that much more interesting than ideal forms… The nature of wood,’ he continues, ‘is more temporary than marble, and in that sense more human.’ Search for the descendant of those German master carvers today and you’ll find Reid.

Reid’s small-scale people make up his latest show, Little Me, at London’s Coningsby Gallery this February. Each is a person quite ordinary in looks, but extraordinary in making, lovingly carved from limewood. Little Me includes both personal portraits (Reid’s partner Andrew or his pregnant friend Grace) as well as the odd well known face. He’s working through a commissioned series of seven portraits of children’s authors and illustrators, so expect to see a miniature Philip Pullman and a similarly small Jacqueline Wilson. Changes in texture, from flesh to clothing to hair, are executed with illusionistic magic. Some portraits are made more disorienting, through use of perspective, Reid’s shallow relief carvings portraying the figure from a bird’s-eye view or from the side.

His career began in the mid 80s, the formative years, at the prestigious Spink & Son workshop in South London, where he was restoring museum-quality pieces of furniture. He specialised in carving, all the while intending to create his own work. Looking back 20 years later, he is fully aware of the value of this starting point: ‘It was extraordinary. We worked on priceless objects and there was no time limit. That training permits you to get certain skills that are really beyond a normal fine-art training. Then turning them and using them in another way… They give you a way of working which is pretty unique. It was a great privilege to come through that route.’

Reid creates his contemporary portraits in his studio in South West France, combining sculpting with photography. One recurrent subject is his partner Andrew, and Reid is inspired by the fleeting instances of everyday life: ‘It could just be a moment over a cup of coffee that I observe, and I often have my camera with me to take a snap. So I think about them, go back to the photographs that are moving to me. In good art there’s always death behind things – or the loss of people. There’s that desire to capture what will go on beyond that person, or your life.’

Author Philip Pullman is reported to have said of his recent portrait: ‘That’s me – small enough to hold in hand… and so entirely there’. It’s a reaction that pleases Reid, emphasising his unnerving ability to distill a personality down to its essence: ‘It’s about the smallness of all these objects really… It was Pullman’s moment about being reduced to something – there I am, small, but I’m all there. It’s that intensity.’

Little Me: Guy Reid is at Coningsby Gallery, 30 Tottenham St, London W1T 4RJ, (020) 7636 7478, from 4 February – 2 March
www.coningsbygallery.com