2nd and 3rd floors are closed for installation.

Skip to content

Institute of Contemporary Art Miami

Pedro Reyes, Epicurus, 2016. Volcanic Stone. Collection of Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami. Museum Purchase with additional support provided by Boris Hirmas and Oscar and Carole Seikaly. Gifts from Irma and Norman Braman, Margot and George Greig, Petra and Stephen Levin, Janice and Alan Lipton, Ellen Salpeter, and Ray Ellen and Allan Yarkin made in honor of Alex Gartenfeld.
Pedro Reyes, Epicurus, 2016. Volcanic Stone. Collection of Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami. Museum Purchase with additional support provided by Boris Hirmas and Oscar and Carole Seikaly. Gifts from Irma and Norman Braman, Margot and George Greig, Petra and Stephen Levin, Janice and Alan Lipton, Ellen Salpeter, and Ray Ellen and Allan Yarkin made in honor of Alex Gartenfeld.
Mar 7, 2019 – Feb 6, 2022
Pedro Reyes

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).

Installation View

Pedro Reyes, Epicurus, 2016
Pedro Reyes, Epicurus, 2016. Volcanic Stone. Collection of Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami. Museum Purchase with additional support provided by Boris Hirmas and Oscar and Carole Seikaly. Gifts from Irma and Norman Braman, Margot and George Greig, Petra and Stephen Levin, Janice and Alan Lipton, Ellen Salpeter, and Ray Ellen and Allan Yarkin made in honor of Alex Gartenfeld.