Ricardo Brey

Born in 1955 in Havana, Cuba
Lives and works in Belgium

The work of Ricardo Brey  focuses on a broad spectrum of topics. Themes such as the relation between nature and culture, the interaction between different cultures and religions, and issues of cultural identity are at the core of a body of work that is always moving towards new necessities and challenges. In the installations Brey approach spaces in a free stance , moved by intuition rather than by an esthetical formula, working  at the crossroad of construction and deconstruction Brey’s aim is to instill life to shapes with the interaction of their meanings.

For him all the materials are able to transmit a spiritual quality. Objects already used contain themselves this quality in the patina created by their use. These objects become part of the work, bringing with them, besides their own names, new names; materials and objects that take part in daily life acquire a new semantic that conveys new meanings.

…“Where the choice of an object entails the choice of a sign, neither of them are left to chance. But their relationship may give life to an unexpected form or a thought which perhaps existed somewhere else: in our mind or in our world, in our past or in our future. Images which give forth to sounds, sounds which give forth to words, words which give forth to thoughts, thoughts which give forth to dreams, even after the flood, from generation to generation…”.

Fragment of the text Archeology After The Flood by Walter Guadagnini

Selected  exhibitions
2014 – BREY – Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, La Habana, Cuba
2014 – Kicking the can down the road.– Galerie Nathalie Obadia,  Brussels, Belgium
2012 – Ricardo Brey / Jimie Durham: looking at my own work (and his) – Gallery Christine König,Vienna
2012 – Performance : Boxes, (As good as bread) – Gallery Christine König, Vienna
2012 – Sint-Jan – Sint-Baafskathedraal. Gent
2011 – Frames & Documents: Conceptual Practices, Selections from the Ella Fontanals – Cisneros collection, Miami
2010 – Membres fantômes, variations sur un thème de Peter Szendy – Galerie Xippas, Paris
2010 – The Good, the bad and the ugly. Wereld & beeld  – Cultuurcentrum Strombeek, Brussels
2009 – The Burden and Blessing of Mortality – NICC. New International Cultural  Center, Antwerp
2006 / 2007 – Universe – S.M.A.K, museum of contemporary art, Gent
2004 / 2005 – Ricardo Brey. Hanging around – GEM, museum of contemporary art, The Hague
2001 – Natura arte e meraviglia – Museo di Storia Naturale: Verona, Vicenza, Montebelluna, Treviso, Venezia
1999 – Trattenendosi – Biennale de Venecia
1996 – Universalis – 23 Biennial de Sao Paulo, Parque Ibirapuera, Sao Paulo
1992 – Documenta IX – Kassel
1985 – New art from Cuba: J.Bedia, F.Garciandia, R.Brey, Amelie A – Wallace Gallery SUNY, College at Old Westbury, Boston
1985 – State University of New York. The exhibition travel to: North Hall Gallery, Massachusetts College af Art, Boston
1985 – Montserrat School of Visual Art, Beverly, Massachusetts. The Plaza Gallery, State University of New York, Albany
1985 – Visual Art Departmen Gallery, State University of New York. College at Purchase, New York
1984 / 86 / 89 / 94 –  Havana Biennial, Havana
1981 – Volumen I – Centro Internacional de Arte de La Habana, Havana