Reds

Group exhibition organizing principles vary widely, from social themes to particular media, but perhaps the most striking driving force behind a collection of works is color. Reds, the catalog from a recent Mnuchin Gallery exhibition centered on the sanguine shade, amalgamates powerhouse names of modern art—Koons, Calder, Gorky, Basquiat, and Twombly, to name a few—in a delicate cardinal velvet binding, it’s as restrained as its colors are bold. The curators take a thoughtful approach to this gathering of masters. This volume astonishes both in the complexity of the objects’ acquisition and the care curators have placed in assembling a psychologically and chromatically varied approach to the color of blood, wine, rose, and doomsday Moon. This volume analyses red from multiple perspectives: through the history of color theory and contemporary artistic application. Reds stands as not merely a recounting of an exhibition, but a philosophical work in its own right.