The Art of Reed Cardwell 

Reed Cardwell is known for his strong figurative abstract paintings. He offers us a penetrating and sometimes disturbing vision of the human condition. With his aggressive use of color, Cardwell transforms raw emotion into human form.

Each of Reed's painting's expresses a sense of power and integrity that transcends the paintings surface and touches the viewer in a special way. The viewer is encouraged to ponder issues that go beyond art, into the human condition and to examine one's self and soul.

Reed was born in San Diego, where he lives full time and has made his living as a painter and teacher in fine arts since 1988. Reed received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from California State University, Long Beach, and also attended Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.

Reed worked as an animation artist for Walt Disney Feature Animation in Burbank for six years. While at Disney he worked on "The Fox and The Hound", "The Black Cauldron", and "The Great Mouse Detective".

Another strong influence on Reed's development as a painter was his mentor, Harold Kramer, a noted painter, sculptor, illustrator and teacher in Los Angeles. Through Kramer's guidance, Reed learned the importance of painting "... not what you see, but paint what you prefer to see", which Reed continues to maintain as his current philosophy in painting and teaching.

Reed also studied with the San Francisco Bay Area Figurative Group painter, Nathan Oliveira in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was from Oliveira that Reed learned to combine his preference for painting certain images by listening to his intuition. This encouraged him to continue painting his preference and to take risks, and also allowed him to follow his heart. 

Reed Cardwell is available for private instruction or through classroom instruction listed on this site.

This page was last updated on 3/31/06. All rights reserved and all images copyrighted by Reed Cardwell and may not be copied, reproduced or transmitted without the express written permission of the artist. Enjoy the works presented here, but please respect the artist's intellectual property.