Alberto Rey Life, Death, and Beauty

Oct. 13, 2008 to Nov. 5, 2008

Lecture/Reception: Oct. 15, 2008, 6:00 p.m.
Concert Hall, Wilson Hall
Reception in the Gallery to follow.

Cuban-American painter and videographer Alberto Rey incorporates environmental issues and social disconnections into his realistic investigations of the migratory patterns and biological conditions in local fish populations. The SUNY Distinguished Professor of Research and Creative Activity (SUNY Fredonia) is also an Orvis- endorsed fly-fishing guide and the founder and director of the S.A.R.E.P. Youth Fly Fishing Program. His Aesthetics of Death series draws on references to the art historical traditions of piscatorial art and nature painting, which includes such painters as Winslow Homer, Thomas Cole and Gustave Courbet. It also alludes to the fragility and richness of biological life, both human and animal. Several of the works in Life, Death and Beauty are based on visual information gathered in the Shenandoah Valley when Rey was a visiting artist at Washington and Lee University in May 2008. During the exhibition, Rey will again be a visiting artist in the Art Department and student work from his previous residency will be on view in Lykes Atrium in Wilson Hall.

Artist residencies in the Art Department are made possible by generous support of the William Hollis Visiting Artist Fund.