Artist to Watch: LaQuincey Reed

There is a lot of superb Western art being made these days; this article shines light on a gifted individual.

LAQUINCEY REED (b. 1983) is an Oklahoma City sculptor who casts, at various scales, in bronze or plaster. He has won growing recognition for his Western compositions, which often feature several figures; for idealized personages like Medusa or Tempest & Calm; and for portraits of historical people revered nationally (like Abraham Lincoln) or regionally (e.g., the 19th-century leader of the Southern Cheyenne nation, Black Kettle).

Reed was born in Lawton, 90 miles southwest of Oklahoma City. Because his father served in the military, the family lived in such places as New Jersey, Texas, and Hawaii, but they returned to Lawton in time for LaQuincey to attend high school there. He recalls “always being interested in art, reading comic books and drawing superheroes,” so it was only natural to pursue a B.F.A. in studio art and art history at the University of Oklahoma. There he focused on painting, but a few years after graduation he shifted to sculpture because he relished the challenge of enticing viewers to walk around his pieces.

The college graduate then spent seven years assisting on the Oklahoma Land Run Monument, one of the world’s largest bronze sculptures, now located in downtown Oklahoma City. It features 45 figures created by the Oklahoma sculptor Paul Moore (b. 1957), all engaged in varied states of frenzied energy and emotion as the Oklahoma Territory’s unassigned land opened for settlement in 1889. Reed credits this professional Western art experience with teaching him “a lot about the business of sculpture,” including bids, inspections, mold-making, and working on a big scale.

Reed then taught art in public schools, for two years in Oklahoma City and then six more in Jones, a small town 20 miles to the northeast. He “enjoyed helping the kids learn something new or find a new medium they liked. I observed that kids need an objective and to be pushed. If they are rudderless, they more than likely will end up that way after graduating.”

In 2021, Reed began making his own art full-time, and over the years has won important commissions from various Oklahoma universities, as well as the Oklahoma State Capitol and Cleveland County courthouse. Despite the obvious advantages of social media, Reed notes, “Most of my commissions result from word of mouth and from relationships.”

Today Reed is much admired by collectors and curators of art celebrating what he calls “the independence and strength of people in the American West.” His long involvement with the Land Run Monument equipped him to sculpt horses, boots, and other Western accessories, and his knowledge grew further thanks to the students in Jones, who were completely immersed in the Western lifestyle.

Reed says, “That experience made me research Western history even more deeply, especially that of Blacks in the West,” which makes sense given his own bi-racial identity and the fact that a third of the cowboys in what we now call the “Wild West” were Black. “There are so many stories and images unique to the West that have not been explored enough,” Reed declares.

He adds that he is currently “exploring new ways to convey movement, as well as mark-making and texture. I’ve made my own tools, or altered store-bought ones, to further expand my mark-making, and fortunately social media is filled with videos of other artists sharing their own processes in that arena.” As accomplished as he is, Reed is not resting on his laurels, but burnishing his skills in anticipation of the next big commission.

Connect with the artist at www.laquincey.com.

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