ART CITIES:Antwerpen-Ricardo Brey

The exhibition ‘’Fuel’’ to the fire forms a bridge between the two figures Ricardo Brey unites within himself: on the one hand the historical artist at a crucial time in the history of Cuban art, and on the other the artist who lives and works in Flanders, and makes work that is highly contemporary, critical to the consumption of images and the slickness in which they now tend to dress themselves.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: M HKA Archive

‘’Fuel to the fire” presents, for the first time ever, a comprehensive and large-scale picture of this oeuvre most people know only from scattered pieces, mainly from gallery exhibitions. The sheer scale of the exhibition, and the scope and grandeur of the oeuvre comes as a surprise even to most of the people who have valued Ricardo Brey as an artist for a long time. Quite some of the works have not been presented publicly since their first moment, sometimes nearly three decades ago. The earliest works in the exhibition are the installation. The structure of myths, and 74 pages of Papeles de Verrazano (Verrazano’s papers), both from 1985, who are both presented for the first time again since 1986. The exhibition also includes the seminal Untitled, Documenta IX, Kassel (1992) which is restored for the exhibition. The exhibition also shows two large series of more recent works, not only content wise fascinating but also formally innovative. There is a series of 21 of Brey’s boxes, which may unfold into a multitude of books, drawings, sculptural and performative proposals. Four of these were part of the exhibition in Havana, one is from the famous Sanders collection in The Netherlands, the others are realized for the exhibition. Last but not least there are also some ten of the large photo-based works which Ricardo has recently been making, combining the intensity of the image with its negation through the intensity of objects. Of Course, part were produced for and even in Cuba, others come to complete this cycle now in Europe. The 104 drawings in 99 showcases of Universe (2002-2006), and the solar system of Every Life is a Fire (2010-2012), are presented in locations outside of the Museum.

Info:’’Fuel’’, Curating: Bart De Baere, M HKA, Leuvenstraat 32, Antwerpen, Duration: 6/2-10/5/15, Days & Hours: Tue-Fri: 9:30-12:30 & 13:30-16:30, www.muhka.be