The Third Room, a collaborative space between Cristina Grajales Gallery and Leon Tovar Gallery, is thrilled to present a solo exhibition of new works by Ross Bleckner.
Based on his series of Prayer Paintings from 2013, Bleckner’s Prayer Rugs feature handwritten prayers composed by the artist himself. The paintings use the prayers as a platform on which Bleckner experiments with the tension between meaning and surface. Expanding on this theme, Bleckner’s Prayer Rugs explore the relationship between a decorative object for the home and the spiritual content of the prayers. By transferring the prayer text from a canvas to a rug, Bleckner brings a heightened level of intimacy to the prayer. This exhibition will include four Prayer Rugs from 2015 and one Prayer Painting from 2013.
Ross Bleckner was born in New York City and raised in Hewlett, New York. Bleckner received a Bachelor of Arts from New York University in 1971, a Master of Fine Arts from Cal Arts in 1973, and has taught at many of the nation’s most prestigious universities. The Solomon R. Guggenheim of Art had a major retrospective of his works in 1995, summarizing two decades of solo shows at internationally acclaimed exhibition venues such as SFMoMA, Contemporary Arts Museum, Stockholm Moderna Museet, and the Carnegie Museum of Art. Works by Bleckner are also held in esteemed public collections throughout the globe, including MoMA, MoCA, Astrup Fearnley, Museo National Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.