UB Art Gallery to present hypnotic aquatic environment installation by Alberto Rey

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Alberto Rey's Lightwell Project at the University at Buffalo is a continuation of his Biological Regionalism series in which he attempts to reestablish a connection to local landscapes by introducing fish found in bodies of water near the exhibition venue into the gallery through video and traditional piscatorial painting. Collected at Ellicott Creek at the edge of UB's North Campus, the underwater source material for the paintings and large-scale projections captures the opalescent colors and balletic movements of largemouth bass and trout before their annual migrations.

Over the past 25 years, Rey's artwork has been influenced by his Cuban lineage and his attempt to find a sense of identity in a complex contemporary environment. His abstract work from 1982-92 dealt with issues related to layered memories of Cuban iconography and his American experiences. After 1992, his drawings and paintings incorporated realistic imagery as an attempt to make clear connections between his past concerns and art history, regionalism, and Cuban-American politics. In 2000, his reflections on contemporary society started to incorporate environmental issues and its relationship to art history, biology and social disconnections with nature. Shortly afterwards, he also began to work in film and video. Rey's paintings can be found in more than 20 museum collections and have been in more than 130 exhibitions and his films/videos have been screened nationally.

Born in Havana, Cuba, in 1960, Rey received his political asylum through Mexico in 1963 and moved to Miami, Fla., in 1965. He received his B.F.A from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and an M.F.A. in painting from UB in 1987. He is currently SUNY Distinguished Professor of Visual Arts and New Media at SUNY Fredonia.

In conjunction with the exhibition, UB Art Gallery will present a Thursday noontime lecture series in its First Floor Gallery:

April 1, Alberto Rey:

SUNY Distinguished Professor, Visual Arts and New Media at SUNY Fredonia. "Looking for Home" investigates this artist's images and videos over the past 25 years and its relationship to his recent body of work, two on-going series, Biological Regionalism and the Aesthetics of Death, which explores contemporary society's connection to the natural environmental and the series connection to art history, biology, and social disconnection with nature and death.

April 8, Jennifer Nalbone:

Great Lakes United Director, Navigation and Invasive Species "The Seaway: Business Changes but Invasive Species are Forever."

Big water like the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River has historically been used to move commercial goods regionally and internationally. Big investments into big engineering projects led to the construction of canals and waterways to facilitate larger ships and higher volumes. But re-plumbing the lakes and rivers brought unforeseen consequences. From the construction of the Chicago Waterway System to the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, commercial navigation development has facilitated one of the worst ecological tragedies of all time, the introduction of aquatic invasive species. The consequences of invasive species beg the question: If we knew then what we knew now, would we have done things differently?

April 15, Margaret Wooster

Habitat Coordinator, Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper.

"I Drink Therefore I Am" follows a few of the major Great Lakes rivers across New York State, using maps created by Wooster for her book "Living Waters," who will tell stories about the latest taking of the Niagara River's "unlimited power" to Cartier's first probes of the St. Lawrence River, in the context of the great cycles of resident and migratory life these rivers have sustained.