STOCKPORT - ORIGINAL PAINTING BY AVA REID - 76 x 61 CM
 
Part of the 'HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME?' 2026 EXHIBITION; ARC Centre Gallery, Stockport
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Stockport is a painting that represents a departure.

This original acrylic work by Macclesfield artist Ava Reid marks a moment of creative evolution.
 
Stockport began during one of Ava’s residencies at the ARC Centre, the gallery where her 2026 exhibition was held.
 
For an artist who largely paints in the surroundings of rural Macclesfield, Stockport presented an entirely new kind of stimulus, angular architecture, urban density, and a sky filled that day with glooming cloud.

The result is a canvas that feels like a departure within Ava’s body of work.
 
The soft organic circles of her signature style are still here, in blues, greys, reds and golds against a warm blush ground, but here they are joined by new, striking rectangular forms in deep navy, slate and red that push up from the lower canvas like buildings seen from street level. Dark cloud-like masses gather and swirl through the work. The overall effect is of a city in full, complex, breathing life, busy, layered, and full of energy.

Ava has not abandoned her usual style here, but encouraged by the setting, has expanded it.
 
Stockport represents an artist responding to the world around her in real time. Here Ava is inspired and alive to what she finds.
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About the Collection
 
How Do You Know My Name is a solo exhibition of original paintings by Ava Reid, showing at ARC Centre Gallery, Stockport throughout the summer of 2026.
 
The collection brings together Ava’s deeply personal portraits of people she loves, admires, and finds fascinating, and the places she relates to that both inspire her and make her feel safe.
 
The paintings display Ava's unmistakable style of bold mark-making, layered colour, and joyful, expressive energy.
 
Each painting is named for it's subject or place, making this a collection that is as intimate as it is captivating.
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About the Artist
 
Ava Reid is a Macclesfield based artist whose work is characterised by its confident colours, distinctive shapes, and joyful energy. As an artist with Down's syndrome and Autism Ava brings a perspective that is genuinely unique. Ava's work is never constrained by her own expectation of the finished product but are born of the purest creative instinct.
 
Ava's work has been celebrated for releasing genuine emotion amongst first time admirers as well as more seasoned fans. Her work is an outstanding example of art made by an artist with a learning disability that commands serious attention with it's vibrance and confidence.
 
Collecting an Ava Reid original means owning something that cannot be replicated, a piece of authentic art from one of Macclesfield's most exciting emerging talents.
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Original acrylic on canvas. 81 x 102cm. One of thirteen paintings in the 'HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME?' 2026 exhibition shown at the ARC Centre in Stockport, 2026. Sold unframed. Certificate of authenticity included.