Ricardo Brey. In Motion

In Motion

Ricardo Brey

Anyone who steps into Ricardo Brey’s (b. 1955, Havana) studio enters a space in which his view of the world becomes tangible. He draws on what he reads, finds, keeps or remembers. This material develops into drawings, sculptures, assemblages and installations in which traditions, knowledge systems and personal histories intersect.

Brey’s work rarely reveals itself in a single glance. From the outside, a form can appear still, closed or simple. But as you draw closer, you discover a layered world of images, materials and symbols. His practice unfolds as a collection of microcosms in which imagination, matter, spirituality and history are interwoven.

Ricardo Brey rose to prominence as a member of Volumen I, an influential avant-garde group that helped shape a new generation of Cuban artists in the late 1970s and early 1980s, following the Revolution. His participation in Documenta IX marked a turning point in his career and prompted his move to Europe. Brey has lived and worked in Ghent since 1990, from where he has built an international career, exhibiting at venues including the Venice Biennale, S.M.A.K. and M HKA.

In his work, Brey explores fundamental questions about the origins of humankind and our place in the world. Caribbean, African and European influences converge to form a distinctive visual language, deeply rooted in the syncretic traditions of Afro-Cuban culture. In so doing, he brings together Western and non-Western visual languages, spiritual systems, mythologies and found objects, which acquire a new meaning in his work.

Ricardo Brey magazine — © Kimberley Dhollander (Evenbeeld) voor M Leuven

Brey simultaneously critiques the history of human curiosity and the desire to collect and classify. In his work, he refers to figures such as the explorer Alexander von Humboldt and the biologist Charles Darwin. He uses these references to question the Western narratives that have named, organised and appropriated the world. What does it mean to gather knowledge? Which voices are given a place in an archive, and which are not? Brey does not counter this with a closed system, but with an open, polyphonic approach.

M Leuven has invited Ricardo Brey to present a major solo exhibition. It will span the entire breadth of his career, from early work made in Cuba to his most recent creations. The exhibition will not follow a linear path, but rather trace the branching trajectories of his oeuvre. At M, his work can be read as a poetic archive of possible worlds. Not an encyclopaedia that imposes order, but a constellation in which each object forms an opening.

Ralph Collier, curator