vernon reid

-- visual artist, composer, guitarist -- was a visual artist before becoming a musician. He has designed art for covers and his music project. His photography and installations have been shown in galleries in Chicago and New York and at the Brooklyn Museum. He is currently working on a collection of short animated films, photographs, installations and objects. One of the short films of the collection premiered at the Nueva Film Festival in Tokyo, Japan in December 2003.
In the larger world Mr. Reid is probably best known for the years he spent leading the rock group Living Colour, founded in circa 1985 in NYC, and piloting the band through a remarkable 10 year career. Among the highlights: a double platinum-selling debut album, Vivid released in 1988;its gold certified successor, Time's Up in 1990; two consecutive Grammy Awards in the category of Best Hard Rock performance; opening for the Rolling Stones in the first Lollapalooza tour in the summer of 1991. Mr. Reid spent his formative years in the downtown New York jazz/funk/punk scene with Decoding Society and Defunkt. He has collaborated with artists ranging from Mick Jagger, Public Enemy and Carlos Santana. His solo album, Mistaken Identity, co-produced with Teo Marcero, is the product of more than a decade of musical evolution. Since the release of Mistaken Identity with his group Masque, he has pursued a diverse number of activities. He has toured with his other instrumental group MY Science Project. He has produced records by Resorte, a Mexican Hard rock group, the great African singer Salif Keita which was nominated for a Grammy in 2000 and for James Blood Ulmer, which was nominated for a Grammy in 2002. He has appeared in Guitar Oblique with guitarist David Torn and Elliott Sharp, and on many other albums, and directed music performance projects at BAM and MassMoca.