Torrente
James Reyes
02/28/26 - 04/05/26
Ki Smith Gallery presents Torrente, an exhibition of new paintings by James Reyes. Across this body of work, Reyes develops densely constructed compositions structured through compression, repetition, and directional movement. Human figures, animals, and hybrid forms interlock and overlap, extending laterally across the picture plane and resisting narrative resolution. The paintings are built through successive layers of paint, with visible revisions and shifts in opacity that register the accumulation of decisions over time.
Color and line function as organizing principles within the compositions, establishing spatial tension and rhythmic continuity across the surface. Recurring motifs and chromatic structures generate movement and internal correspondence, producing images that remain open, unstable, and continuously in flux.
Reyes’s practice advances a sustained investigation into the possibilities of painting as both material process and conceptual framework. Engaging with histories of figuration and abstraction while remaining firmly groundewd in the conditions of contemporary image-making, his work situates painting as an active, evolving form. James Reyes lives and works in New York. His work is held in private and institutional collections.
About James Reyes
James Reyes (b. 1991, Bronx, New York) is an American painter whose work explores the tension between figuration and abstraction through gesture-driven mark-making, incorporating moments of realism. Shaped by his cultural and social environment, Reyes develops compositions that balance immediacy and control, allowing figures and creatures to emerge, dissolve, and reassert themselves within dense, layered surfaces.
Reyes received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts in 2014. Early in his career, he was involved in artist-led, experimental exhibition models that emphasized accessibility and public engagement, including unsanctioned installations at the Whitney Museum of American Art, MoMA PS1, and New York City subway stations. These formative experiences continue to inform his approach to painting, which embraces risk, physicality, and improvisation.
Working across a range of scales and mediums, Reyes’s figures often appear simultaneously complete and fragmented, occupying a space between the recognizable and the surreal. This push and pull—between structure and collapse, image and gesture—serves as a throughline across his bodies of work.
Reyes’s work has been shown nationally and internationally and is held in private and institutional collections.
Special GoMining collaboration
As part of this exhibition, Ki Smith Gallery is collaborating with GoMining, one of the world’s largest Bitcoin mining infrastructures. Every piece in James Reyes’s collection comes with a digital asset that generates Bitcoin daily — with nothing required on the collector's part. Bitcoin is fully accessible to its owner through GoMining's platform, from any device. The initiative reflects a new investment dimension to art collecting — one that aligns with modern technology and current art market trends.
For centuries, collectors often had to choose between preserving a masterpiece or realizing its financial value. From Lorenzo Medici to Solomon Guggenheim, ownership meant appreciation in one form at a time. This collaboration redefines that experience. The artwork continues to be enjoyed, exhibited, and collected, while generating daily income passively and thus doesn’t require any sacrifices.
About GoMining
GoMining operates a global network of industrial Bitcoin data centers and currently contributes approximately 2 percent of total global Bitcoin production. With more than 5 million users worldwide, the company has built large scale infrastructure that enables participation in Bitcoin mining through professionally managed facilities.
GoMining has collaborated with globally recognized names including Binance, Trust Wallet, Solana, and Trezor, among others.
The company’s approach reflects an openness to cross-disciplinary collaboration, engaging with partners beyond the technology sector to explore how decentralized production models can intersect with broader cultural, economic, and creative frameworks.