About!

Oliver Reid is an artist and disability rights advocate based in Kansas City. He is pursuing his BFA in Painting at the Kansas City Art Institute and works alongside the Kansas Council on Developmental Disabilities.Artist Statement
Through art, I create physical pieces of hope, emotions, and life that I wish to express to myself and those who encounter them. I draw inspiration from the love of what makes us human, nature, and life as a disabled person. I start by making messy lines of what I want to understand or want others to hear, done with whatever medium best fits my form of communication. This is often painting or drawing, whether digitally or pieced together by hand. I place colors with intention, follow lines where they take me, and make shapes with whimsy, accepting the art of slow craft that my differences fuel. Why I create lies in my story, thoughts of accessibility, and the natural world that constantly strings together itself and our present. I appreciate the accessibility that art-making is to me as a communicative and life-saving device, as a way to foster connection. Art is ultimately my way of weaving life together to form something whole. It is an act of defiance, a letter to myself and those alike, and above all, a way to keep moving forward.

Oliver Reid
[email protected]
@hopeisoliveSelected Exhibitions
With Admiration, Lester Goldman Gallery, Kansas City, MO, 2023
Between Death and Dreaming, Lester Goldman Gallery, Kansas City, MO, 2023
Expressions, The Whole Person, Kansas City, MO, 2024
Art with Heart, 80 Santa Fe Art Gallery, Overland Park, KS, 2025
Art of Possibilities, Courage Kenny, Minneapolis, MN, 2025
IDENTITY, InterUrban ArtHouse, Overland Park, KS, 2025
Nothing About Us Without Us, ArtsKC, Kansas City, MO, 2025Collections/Publications
Hallowzine, created by Megan Cason, 2023
Hallowzine, created by Megan Cason, 2024

My Work