New Staniar Gallery Exhibit: Alberto Rey: Life, Death and Beauty
Alberto Rey: Life, Death and Beauty will be on view in Staniar Gallery, on the campus of Washington and Lee University, October 13 through November 5. Alberto Rey, a Cuban-American artist who has been exhibiting nationally and internationally for 25 years, uses paintings and video to explore environmental issues and their connection to a sense of identity.
In the work exhibited, Rey 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, to allude to the fragility and complexity of biological life, both human and animals.
Several of the works in Life, Death and Beauty are based on visual information collected 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 and student work from his previous residency will be on view in Lykes Atrium in Wilson Hall.
The State University of New York (SUNY) Distinguished Professor of Research and Creative Activity is also an Orvis-endorsed fly-fishing guide and the founder and director of the S.A.R.E.P Youth Fly Fishing Program. Rey’s paintings can be found in over twenty museum collections and have been in over 130 exhibitions. His films and videos have been screened nationally and his illustrated articles and artwork have graced the covers and pages of Gray’s Sporting Journal, Art of Angling Journal, Fish and Fly Magazine, American Angler, Saltwater Fisherman and Buffalo Spree.
Alberto Rey will conduct an Artist’s Lecture at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008, in the Wilson Hall Concert Hall which will be followed by a reception for the artist. The public is invited to attend both the opening talk and reception.
Staniar Gallery is located on the second floor of Wilson Hall, in Washington and Lee University’s Lenfest Center for the Arts. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For further information call 540.458.8861.
