Bloodflames Revisited

Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York

June 26 – August 15, 2014

Paul Kasmin Gallery, in collaboration with Rail Curatorial Projects, is pleased to announce the forthcoming exhibition Bloodflames Revisited, curated by Phong Bui on view June 26 – August 15, 2014 at 293 Tenth Avenue and 515 West 27th Street, New York. With works by Lynda Benglis, John Bock, Lee Bul, Cameron Gainer, Candida Höfer, Bill Jensen, Michael Joo, Deborah Kass, Alex Katz, Benjamin Keating, Glenn Ligon, Chris Martin, Daniel Joseph Martinez, Donald Moffett, Roxy Paine, G.T. Pellizzi, Joanna Pousette-Dart, Dorothea Rockburne, Will Ryman, Cindy Sherman, Do Ho Suh, Superflex, Tunga, Not Vital, and Joe Zucker, Bui will present a contemporary response to the seminal exhibition, Bloodflames. “We were all interested in building a field of vision in which the relationship between the works of art and the spectators is intergrated with greater amplification,” explains Bui. Bloodflames Revisited will be accompanied by a free catalogue with text by Bui. A poetry reading and dance performance will be staged during the course of the exhibition.

Bui and the participant artists will pay homage to the Bloodflames exhibition at Hugo Gallery, which Alexander Iolas directed before opening his eponymous gallery. Organized by Nicolas Calas and designed by Frederick Kiesler in March 1947, Bloodflames presented works by Arshile Gorky, Matta, Isamu Noguchi, and Jean-Claude Reynal among others. Kiesler's design called for an unconventional exhibition construction, wherein artworks were projected and tilted at various angles from the gallery walls, to allow uncommon perspectives of view. His bold architectural interventions dissolved the barrier between viewer and artwork. By recontextualizing this groundbreaking exhibition, Bloodflames Revisited will evoke the inventive spirit and unified spatial experience of the original exhibition.

Phong Bui is an artist, writer, and independent curator. He is also the co-founder, editor, and publisher of the monthly journal the Brooklyn Rail and the publishing press Rail Editions. He is a board member of the Miami Rail, the Third Rail in the Twin Cities, the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation, the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, and the International Association of Art Critics United States (AICA-USA). Bui currently teaches at the School of Visual Art’s MFA Art Criticism and Writing, and MFA Photography, Video, and Related Media.

For more information on Bloodflames Revisited, please contact exhibitions@paulkasmingallery.com
For press inquiries, please contact Jacqueline Beckwith, Jacqueline@paulkasmingallery.com