Michael Rey
Michael Rey’s experimentation with surface finishes allow for his wall-based artworks to reside in a space that can be defined as neither painting nor sculpture. Working with oil plasticine on abstract three-dimensional forms, these pieces stress materiality immersed in negative space. The way in which he orients his pieces within clinical gallery walls seemingly carve out each shape, drawing attention to what is both seen and not seen. As Rey develops as an artist his work has become more dependant on negative space, symmetry, and abstract form in contrast to his early pieces which are referential to recognizable utilitarian objects. The highly fabricated shapes that Rey produces begin as dreams, doodles, and figures that serve a personal meaning, but have further developed into broader cultural signifiers. Through this practice Rey intends to call attention to instinctive tendencies to assign meaning to all, even abstract, imagery.
Rey has held solo exhibitions at Office Baroque in Brussels, Zero in Mila, Cherry and Martin in Los Angeles, Room East in New York, and Young Art in Los Angeles. Additionally his work has been featured in group exhibitions at James Fuentes in New York, Jack Hanley Gallery in New York, Nymphius Projekte in Berlin, …
Michael Rey’s experimentation with surface finishes allow for his wall-based artworks to reside in a space that can be defined as neither painting nor sculpture. Working with oil plasticine on abstract three-dimensional forms, these pieces stress materiality immersed in negative space. The way in which he orients his pieces within clinical gallery walls seemingly carve out each shape, drawing attention to what is both seen and not seen. As Rey develops as an artist his work has become more dependant on negative space, symmetry, and abstract form in contrast to his early pieces which are referential to recognizable utilitarian objects. The highly fabricated shapes that Rey produces begin as dreams, doodles, and figures that serve a personal meaning, but have further developed into broader cultural signifiers. Through this practice Rey intends to call attention to instinctive tendencies to assign meaning to all, even abstract, imagery.
Rey has held solo exhibitions at Office Baroque in Brussels, Zero in Mila, Cherry and Martin in Los Angeles, Room East in New York, and Young Art in Los Angeles. Additionally his work has been featured in group exhibitions at James Fuentes in New York, Jack Hanley Gallery in New York, Nymphius Projekte in Berlin, Neuer Kunstverein Wien in Vienna, and The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art in Malibu among others.
