A conceptual artist who playfully investigates form and history, Pedro Reyes has recently created a series of monumental carved sculptures in volcanic rock dedicated to canonizing great philosophers and intellectuals.
The strong yet inviting expression seen in the features of this sculpture, made in 2016, pays homage to the Greek philosopher Epicurus. A complex thinker who is best known for defining food culture, Epicurus represents, for Reyes, a crucial shift in philosophy as the first to advocate pursuing joy over goodness in life.
Reyes’s 2014 solo installation “Sanatorium” was ICA Miami’s first exhibition presented in its temporary space in the Moore Building.
Trained as an architect, Pedro Reyes (b. 1972, Mexico City) lives and works in Mexico City. He has held solo exhibitions with Creative Time, New York (2016); Dallas Contemporary (2016); La Tallera, Cuernavaca, Mexico (2016); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2015); Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto (2014); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2011); and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2011), among others. Reyes has participated in many group shows, including at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan (2015); National Museum of XXI Century Arts (MAXXI), Rome (2015); Beijing Biennale (2014); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2013); and documenta 13. Reyes’s awards include the US Department of State Medal of Art (2015) and a Ford Foundation Fellowship (2016).
