Alberto Rey

Lost Beauty Project (since 2019)

Rey’s Lost Beauty project documents fragile natural and cultural environments affected by climate change and human intervention. Part I, presented in collaboration with the Buffalo Museum of Science at the Anderson Gallery, University at Buffalo, in fall 2019, combined paintings and ceramics with audio, video, and scientific specimens from Rey’s Extinct Birds Project, documenting the histories of 18 extinct bird species.^[17][18]

The Icebergs series focuses on Iceland’s Jökulsárlón glacial region and was published as a book in 2021; works from the series were exhibited in Life Streams: Alberto Rey, Cuban-American Artist at the Ogunquit Museum of American Art. In 2021, Rey also became the first artist commissioned by the Buffalo Museum of Science, creating a site-specific exhibition pairing large-scale paintings with previously unseen museum artifacts.^{[19][4][20][18][21][17]}

Extinct Birds Project (2016-2019)

In 2018, Rey published Extinct Birds Project, documenting the histories of 17 extinct bird species represented by specimens held at the Roger Tory Institute of Natural History and Harvard University’s Museum of Comparative Zoology.^[22] The accompanying exhibition opened in August 2018 at the Roger Tory Institute, featuring paintings alongside rare archival audio and video materials.^[23]

The project later formed the basis of Rey’s Lost Beauty exhibitions, developed in collaboration with the Buffalo Museum of Science and the Anderson Gallery, University at Buffalo, beginning in 2019 and continuing with a site-specific installation at the Buffalo Museum of Science in 2021.^[24][17]

Biological Regionalism (since 2005)

Rey's Biological Regionalism series examines local aquatic ecosystems, combining art with scientific data to promote environmental awareness and conservation. Influenced by naturalist artists such as Winslow Homer and John James Audubon, the project integrates paintings and video with field research, maps, and environmental samples to explore natural beauty and human impact on aquatic environments.^[1] Rey's most recent installation, Biological Regionalism: Niagara River, was displayed at the Castellani Art Museum in 2023. In large-scale paintings, he explored the complex past of the Niagara River, from pollution to the Underground Railroad to Native American heritage.^[25]

Other major installations in this series include:

• Battenkill, Vermont, USA (2021-2023) at the Elizabeth de C. Wilson Museum, Southern Vermont Art Center^[26]
• Oswego River and Lake Ontario, Central New York, USA (2019-2022) at SUNY Oswego’s Tyler Gallery^[27]
• Scajaquada Creek (2014) at the Burchfield Penney Art Center^[28]
• Ellicott Creek (2010) at the University at Buffalo Art Gallery^[28]

Bagmati River Art Project Series (2014–2016)

In 2016, Rey wrote and illustrated a book about his project in Kathmandu, Nepal, titled Complexities of Water: Biological Regionalism: Bagmati River, Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, with SUNY Fredonia colleague and graphic designer Jason Dilworth.^[29] The project's exhibition opened on 20 November at the Siddhartha Art G allery at Barbar Mahal Revisited in Kathmandu, featuring fourteen paintings, water samples, the documentary "BAGMATI", and artwork by Nepalese artists.^[29] The project also collected scientific data on water quality, pollution, human impact, climate change, and strategies to improve the health of the Bagmati river, while informing neighboring communities about conservation methods.^[29][30]

The Aesthetics of Death Series (2006–2016)

Moved by the passing of his sister, Mayda, and his father-in-law, Neil Strong, Rey's series confronted death directly by depicting sick, dying, and deceased steelhead fish.^{[1]: 35–36  [31]: 62–64} The paintings themselves used bright colors and gestural brushwork to contrast the starkness of death with the temporary brilliance of life. The viewers look down at the fish from above against a flat, muted background, highlighting the overall shape of the subject. Though the life of a dead fish may initially seem insignificant to a viewer, the large scale of the paintings turns each fish into a monument, capturing an unrepeatable moment for future study, appreciation, and contemplation.^{[1]: 37, 137–139 [32]}

Trout Encounters Series (2000–2004)

Returning to the United States after visiting Cuba in 1998 for the first time in over 30 years signaled a thematic change for Rey, creating work that investigated other aspects of his identity besides his Cuban heritage like exploring his passion for environmental conservation and researching art history.^{[1]: 25–32} Akin to the Hudson River School artists who presented the general public with sweeping landscapes and depictions of wilderness,^{[31]: 60–62} Rey's Trout Encounters brought together two worlds: the underwater world of regionally-specific trout species and the increasingly urbanized communities of people disconnected from their surroundings.^{[33][1]: 35–36, 120–121}

Studio Retablos Series (1998–2000)

This series combines several disciplines including the art history of America, Italy, Mexico, and Spain, as well as biology, pop culture, postmodernism, and politics. As he traveled for the previous 25 years collecting imagery and discarded paintings by amateur artists, Rey wanted to give these abandoned works new life. This series revitalized the old paintings by removing layers of their original paint and adding new layers of imagery from Rey's travels..^{[1]: 25–26, 57  [31]: 60}

Cuban Portraits Series (1998–1999)

Rey described the inspiration behind the series as the Mexican portrait painter Hermenegildo Bustos (1832 – 1907) as Bustos portraits visually cataloged an ethnic group people in a moment of their history.^[1]: 24 Rey's series depicts both Cubans living in Cuba and Cubans living in the United States with an emphasis on character, social and economic class, and ethnic identity.^{[31]: 60  [1]: 24–25}

Las Balsas (The Rafts) Series (1995-1999)

Researching Cuban archives in a library in Key West, FL, led Rey to discover the mission of the Cuban Refugee Center on Stock Island. When Cuban immigrants would arrive to the Florida Keys on rafts, the center would provide temporary housing, medical help, food, and connected immigrants to relatives living in America. The center displayed various rafts and crafts refugees used for the 90-mile crossing.^{[34]: 72–73} Because Rey had several relatives who traveled to America on rafts and even a grandmother who did not survive the passage, Rey created the series in hopes to draw viewers in to explore the rafts and to ponder what the journey for Cuban refugees must have been like. The success of the persons traveling on the rafts is left ambiguous. Rey hoped for the raft imagery to metaphorically become quiet but strong reminders of human tragedies and triumphs.^{[1]: 22–24}

Appropriated Memories Series (1996–1997)

As Jorge J.E. Gracia highlights in his essay "The Construction of Identity in Art: Alberto Rey's Journey," for the previous thirteen years, Rey's work was geared towards reclaiming his Cuban heritage.^{[31]: 52–59, 60–61} Increasingly during that period in his life, he had growing concerns about a lack of connection to his surroundings in America. In an effort to analyze what he valued, he painted beloved memories including moments with his family, cultural religions symbols, and imagery from his childhood in a small rural coal-mining town in Pennsylvania. Since then, his work has tried to mend the spirituality of his Cuban culture with seeking some sense of spirituality in his everyday life. The Appropriated Memories Series aim to capture the fulfillment of researching, finding, and painting images of what he believed were a lost time. Altogether, the images are an abstracted recollection, reminiscences, and interpretations of his memory of Cuba.^{[1]: 22  [31]: 52–61}

Icon Series (1993–1995)

Lynette M.F. Bosch described how Rey's desire to reconnect to his Cuban identity as an American with no actual memories of his country, shifted his work to depict objects and experiences that meant “Cuba” to him as they were described in stories told by his relatives. Rey painted Cuban food on a large-scale, turning the dishes into monuments and elevating their status from everyday cuisine to iconicized cultural symbols as seen in “Ancel Guava Paste” (Completed 1994), collected into the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale, FL.” ^{[1]: 20–21}

Madonnas of Western New York Series (1991–1993)

As Rey lived with his wife in Fredonia, NY they began exploring the cultural icons of Chautauqua County. He built small wooden boxes and painted well-known symbols of the area like the Niagara Mohawk Power Plant (Now called NRG) as seen in the work “Niagara Mohawk: Dunkirk, New York” (1992). The construction of the boxes and the transformation of ordinary sights likened to altars in religious customs, connecting Rey's new home to his Cuban heritage and traditions.^{[1]: 18–19}

This series is described as being a major change in Rey's stylistic approach from his previous abstract series.^{[citation needed]} As it became necessary for the audience to be able to see and recognize these Western New York icons in order to understand their significance, Rey began painting more representationally.^{[1]: 19  [31]: 56–58}

Binary Forms Series (1998–1992)

His marriage in 1989, to Janeil Strong, reinvigorated his interest in depicting religion and its influence on marriage.^[1]: 18 The work uses overlapping forms to express the sometimes at-odds concepts of marriage, religion, memory, spirituality, and eroticism.^{[1]: 18–19 [31]: 56–57}

Black Lace Series and Nuptial Series (1987–1989)

Rey's Black Lace Series spurred from fascination of Catholic rituals, sainthood, and the artist's exposure to Santeria, a Cuban synthesis of Catholic and African religions. The duality of personal items such as veils worn by women for modesty in church can also be seen as seductive in other contexts. The veil, and the lace often featured on veils, became motifs in this series seen especially in the work “Fertility” (1989). In the work “Postnuptial Gold: Time” (Completed 1991, Albright-Knox Art Gallery permanent collection) the color gold symbolizes the metal's preciousness and references the Catholic Church's rites of marriage.^{[1]: 17–18  [31]: 55–56}

Autogeographical Series and Floating Series ( 1985-1987)

The Autogeographical Series drew from Rey's experiences in graduate school and often directly represented the places he lived in. An example from this body of work is “Holy Angels Church and Chair” which was collected by the Burchfield Penney Arts Center in 1987. The Floating Series took a more surreal approach to the same topic by incorporating his own dream language and depicted these land and cityscapes from a bird's-eye-view perspective. The series aims to depict the more transitory and non-permanent aspects of memory and dreaming. An example from this series is “Transitions” (completed 1988) and was collected into the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University in Buffalo, NY.^{[1]: 16–17  [31]: 55}

Documentaries

"BAGMATI (Biological Regionalism: Bagmati River, Kathmandu Valley, Nepal)", Color Video, 2016–2017. This video documents the Bagmati River Art Project and includes interviews with health professionals, community members, and lawmakers. Included are traditional Nepalese folk songs and a commissioned song about the river. Screened 2017 at the Open Village Festival, Brussels, Belgium and in 2016 at the Siddhartha Gallery, in Kathmandu, Nepal.^[29]

"Biological Regionalism: Atlantic Cod" (2007), black and white video, was created for a residency at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA. The artist explores a brief history of the Atlantic cod and its influence on the economy of New England. It screened in 2007 at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA.^{[1]: 253–256}

Primal Connections” (2006) investigates how people in the modern age make meaningful connections to nature. This video was screened and acquired into the permanent collection of the MEIAC in Spain in 2013. It screened in 2013 at the Extremeño e Iberoamericano de Arte Contemporáneo (Extremaduran and Latin American Museum of Contemporary Art), in 2008 at Washington and Lee University, and in 2006 at the Rochester Contemporary Gallery.^{[1]: 253–256}

"An Unkept Promise" (2005) details the emotional journey of Rey taking his first return trip to his home country of Cuba 36 years after emigrating with his family as a child.^[1] This video was screened at many different venues and was acquired into the permanent collection of the MEIAC in Spain in 2013.^{[1]: 253–256}

"Waters off of Caribarien, Cuba" (2004) depicts the waters surrounding a small island where many Cubans traveled by raft through the Gulf Stream to Florida; it was inducted into the permanent collection of the Burchfield Penney Art Center and later in 2013, it was both screened and acquired by the MEIAC. It screened in 2017, 2013, and 2005 at the Burchfield Penney Art Center and the Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum, in 2015 at Canisius College, in 2013 at Extremeño e Iberoamericano de Arte Contemporáneo, in 2013 at the Masur Museum, in 2010 at the Memorial Art Gallery, in 2010 at University of Buffalo, in 2008 at Mary Baldwin College, Staunton, VA, in 2008 at Washington and Lee University, in 2007 at Cleveland Institute of Art, in 2007 at the Chautauqua Institution, and in 2005 at the DeadCenter Film Festival, Oklahoma City, OK.^[1]

"Seeing the Dark" (2001), a black-and-white 16mm film, encapsulates Rey's first return trip to Cuba since his childhood emigration, and signaled a change in viewpoint to cease depicting his home country in nostalgic methods.