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Works depict Nature, Cuban Culture

Acclaimed Cuban American painter and illustrator Alberto Rey will give a public lecture, "Transitions in Time," on Friday, October 26, at 12:15 p.m. in the Ohio Bell Auditorium in the Institute's Gund Building, 11141 East Boulevard. Rey, distinguished professor of visual arts and new media at State University of New York at Fredonia, will be in Cleveland to participate in a symposium and exhibition at Case Western Reserve University.

His paintings and illustrations range from abstract imagery that suggests Cuban iconography to illustrations for angling magazines. According to Rey's website (www.albertorey.com) "his artwork over the past 25 years 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 through 1992 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, Cuban-American politics and identity. In 2000, his reflections on contemporary society shifted to environmental concerns and its relationship to art history, biology and social disconnection with nature."

Rey also works in film and video and his films have been screened across the country.

His work is in 17 museums, including the Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, California; Brooklyn Museum, New York City; Burchfield Art Center, Buffalo, New York; Catskill Fly Fishing Museum, Livingston, New York; El Museo del Barrio, New York City; Museo Extremeno e Iberoamericano de Arte Contemporaneo, Badajoz, Spain; Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida; National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, Wyoming; Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History, Jamestown, New York; and the Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, Florida.

Rey earned a BFA from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and an MFA in painting from University of Buffalo. His lecture at CIA, which is sponsored in part by the Institute's Bickford Visiting Artist Fund, will be followed on Sunday, October 28, by the opening of his three-week solo exhibition at Case Western Reserve University's Art Studio.

The exhibition, "Alberto Rey: Cuban American Artist," will be on view in the University's Art Studio at the corner of Murray Hill and Adelbert Roads through November 16. An opening reception is set for Sunday, October 28, from 2:00-4:00 p.m. in the studio, which is open to the public weekdays from 12:30 -5:00p.m. The symposium is scheduled for November 2. For more information on Rey's activities at Case Western Reserve University, click here .