Pedro Reyes
Pedro Reyes has won international attention for large-scale projects that address current social and political issues. Through a varied practice utilising sculpture, performance, video, and activism, Reyes explores the power of individual and collective organisation to incite change through communication, creativity, happiness, and humour. A socio-political critique of contemporary gun culture is addressed in Reyes’s ongoing Palas por Pistolas, in which the artist worked with local authorities in Culiacán, Mexico, to melt down guns into shovels, then used to plant trees in cities elsewhere in the world. Similarly, in Reyes’ major continuing Disarm series, firearms confiscated by the Mexican government and donated to Reyes have been transformed into instruments, which are then activated by local musicians. Issues of community and compassion are addressed in Sanatorium, activated at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York (2011), dOCUMENTA 13, Kassel, Germany (2012), The Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (2013) and at The Power Plant in Toronto and The Institute of Contemporary Art in Miami (2014). In this work, visitors are invited to sign up for a ‘temporary clinic,’ with the mission of treating various kinds of urban malaise. His immersive exhibition Doomocracy, organised by Creative Time at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, was a ‘political house of horrors’ marking the confluence of two events haunting the American cultural imagination at the time: Halloween and the 2016 US presidential election. Most recently, Reyes has worked with The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists and ICAN to stage anti-nuclear protests and performances across the world. Titled, Amnesia Atómica ZERO NUKES, this movement has found platforms in New York; Mexico City; Vienna and Oslo. Alongside these performative, socially engaged strands of his practice, Reyes continues to make sculpture. Carved in red and black volcanic stone, marble and jadeite, these often monumental works that weave between figuration and abstraction reference sources as diverse as Greco Roman statuary; British Modernism and Mesoamerican sculpture.
Reyes (b. 1972, Mexico City) lives and works in Mexico City. He studied architecture at the Ibero-American University in Mexico City. Solo exhibitions have been held with SITE Santa Fe, NM, USA (2023); MARTa Herford, Herford, Germany (2022); Museum of Contemporary Art of Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico (2022); MAAT, Lisbon, Portugal (2021); Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland (2020); SCAD, Georgia, USA (2019); Creative Time, New York, USA (2016); Dallas Contemporary, TX, USA (2016); La Tallera, Cuernavaca, Mexico (2016); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA (2015); ICA, Miami, FL, USA (2014); The Power Plant, Toronto, Canada (2014); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, USA (2011); Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, USA (2011); CCA Kitakyushu, Japan (2009); Bass Museum, Miami, FL, USA (2008;) and San Francisco Art Institute, CA, USA (2008). Reyes has participated in group exhibitions at the The Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City, Mexico (2023); Museo Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico (2021); the Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA (2018); the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan (2015); The National Museum of XXI Century Arts (MAXXI), Rome (2015); Beijing Biennale, China (2014); Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (2013); dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany (2012); Liverpool Biennial, UK (2012); Gwangju Biennial, South Korea (2012); Lyon Biennale, France (2009); and the 50th Venice Biennale, Italy (2003). In Fall 2016, Reyes served as the inaugural Dasha Zhukova Distinguished Visiting Artist at MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Recent, current and forthcoming projects
'Artists Against the Bomb', Judd Foundation, New York, NY, USA (28 Nov - 6 Dec, 2023)
Pedro Reyes
Tonametl
Tezontle stone
108 x 104 x 39 cm
42 1/2 x 41 x 15 3/8 in
Plinth: 86 x 125 x 75 cm
Plinth: 33 7/8 x 49 1/4 x 29 1/2 in
Pedro Reyes
Tlatoani
2023
Volcanic Stone
338 x 108 x 113 cm
133 1/8 x 42 1/2 x 44 1/2 in
Pedro Reyes
Amoxcalli
2023
Volcanic Stone
282 x 58 x 53 cm
111 x 22 7/8 x 20 7/8 in
Pedro Reyes
Detente
2023
Marble
55 x 114 x 43 cm
21 5/8 x 44 7/8 x 16 7/8 in
Plinth: 94 x 150 x 86 cm
Plinth: 37 x 59 x 33 7/8 in
Pedro Reyes
Selene
2023
Oil on Amate Paper
Diptych. Each: 244 x 122 cm
Diptych. Each: 96 1/8 x 48 in
Pedro Reyes
Tlatohli
2023
Oil on Amate Paper
244 x 122 cm
96 1/8 x 48 in
Pedro Reyes
Pedro Reyes
Lisson Gallery, Los Angeles, 2023
Installation view
Pedro Reyes
Pedro Reyes
Lisson Gallery, Los Angeles, 2023
Installation view
Pedro Reyes
Pedro Reyes
Lisson Gallery, Los Angeles, 2023
Installation view
Pedro Reyes
Pedro Reyes
Lisson Gallery, Los Angeles, 2023
Installation view
Pedro Reyes
Tsontekotl
2022
Volcanic stone
78 x 70 x 75 cm
30 3/4 x 27 1/2 x 29 1/2 in
Plinth: 100 x 115 x 70 cm
Plinth: 39 3/8 x 45 1/4 x 27 1/2 in
Pedro Reyes
Chac Mool
2022
Jadeite
70 x 82 x 36 cm
27 1/2 x 32 1/4 x 14 1/8 in
Plinth: 94 x 100 x 71 cm
Plinth: 37 x 39 3/8 x 28 in
Pedro Reyes
Tlacuilo
2021
Volcanic stone
Sculpture: 97 x 112 x 60 cm
Sculpture: 38 1/4 x 44 1/8 x 23 5/8 in
Base: 80 x 132 x 55 cm
Base: 31 1/2 x 52 x 21 5/8 in
Pedro Reyes
Totem (Huehueteotl)
2021
Tenzontle stone
230 x 75 x 70 cm
90 1/2 x 29 1/2 x 27 1/2 in
Pedro Reyes
Citlali
2021
Volcanic stone
Sculpture: 85 x 96 x 49 cm
Sculpture: 33 1/2 x 37 3/4 x 19 1/4 in
Base: 55 x 112 x 61 cm
Base: 21 5/8 x 44 1/8 x 24 in
Pedro Reyes
Tetla
2021
Acrylic on amate paper
Pedro Reyes
Cosmos
2020
Volcanic Stone
284 x 87 x 87 cm
111 3/4 x 34 1/4 x 34 1/4 in
Pedro Reyes
Olín
2020
Brown Tezontle
Sculpture: 90 x 90 x 53 cm
Sculpture: 35 3/8 x 35 3/8 x 20 7/8 in
Base: 50 x 84 x 60 cm
Base: 19 5/8 x 33 1/8 x 23 5/8 in
Pedro Reyes
Pliegue
2019
Carrara marble
60 x 22 x 28 cm
23 5/8 x 8 5/8 x 11 in
Pedro Reyes
Scribe
2019
Volcanic stone
71 x 44 x 78 cm
28 x 17 3/8 x 30 3/4 in
White plinth: 70 x 50 x 85 cm
White plinth: 27 1/2 x 19 5/8 x 33 1/2 in
Pedro Reyes
Seated Figure
2018
Marble
55 x 75 x 89 cm
21 5/8 x 29 1/2 x 35 in
Tezontle plinth: 88 x 140 x 84 cm
Tezontle plinth: 34 5/8 x 55 1/8 x 33 1/8 in
Pedro Reyes
Seer
2018
Volcanic stone
65 x 74 x 52 cm
25 5/8 x 29 1/8 x 20 1/2 in
Sandstone plinth: 104 x 80 x 67 cm
Sandstone plinth: 41 x 31 1/2 x 26 3/8 in
Pedro Reyes
Jaguar
2018
Volcanic stone
64 x 71 x 43 cm
25 1/4 x 28 x 16 7/8 in
Sandstone plinth: 104 x 83 x 62 cm
Sandstone plinth: 41 x 32 5/8 x 24 3/8 in
Pedro Reyes
Spiral Nude
2018
Bronze
70 x 103 x 45 cm
27 1/2 x 40 1/2 x 17 3/4 in
Pedro Reyes
Lithophone (Hexatonal)
2018
Black Marble
110 x 35 x 29 cm
43 1/4 x 13 3/4 x 11 3/8 in
Pedro Reyes
Infinity Chair
2018
White Marble
85 x 200 x 95 cm
33 1/2 x 78 3/4 x 37 3/8 in
Pedro Reyes
Versus Machina
2018
Bronze
154 x 119 x 90 cm
60 5/8 x 46 7/8 x 35 3/8 in
Pedro Reyes
Double Helix
2018
Bronze
72 x 72 x 78 cm
28 1/4 x 28 1/4 x 30 5/8 in
ed. 2 of 5 + 2 APs
Pedro Reyes
Protester III
2018
Bronze
120 x 50 x 36 cm
47 1/4 x 19 5/8 x 14 1/8 in
Pedro Reyes
Codex (Red)
2018
Concrete
119 x 117 x 10 cm
46 7/8 x 46 1/8 x 3 7/8 in
Pedro Reyes
Machinic Phylum I
2017
Concrete and steel
53 x 67 x 12 cm
20 7/8 x 26 3/8 x 4 3/4 in
Pedro Reyes
Machinic Phylum II
2017
Concrete and steel
71 x 54 x 12 cm
28 x 21 1/4 x 4 3/4 in
Pedro Reyes
Sunstone
2016
White onyx
80 x 27 x 25 cm
31 1/2 x 10 5/8 x 9 7/8 in
Pedro Reyes
Totem
2015
Volcanic stone
227 x 91 x 109.5 cm
89 3/8 x 35 7/8 x 43 1/8 in
Pedro Reyes
Disarm: Installation view, Lisson Gallery, London
2013
Installation view
Pedro Reyes
Disarm: Installation view, Lisson Gallery, London
2013
Installation view
Pedro Reyes
Disarm LP
LP record
Pedro Reyes
Disarm (Trigger Puller)
2013
Metal
118 x 170 x 170 cm
46 1/2 x 66 7/8 x 66 7/8 in
Pedro Reyes
Disarm (Xylophone)
2013
Metal
43 x 35 x 30 cm
16 7/8 x 13 3/4 x 11 3/4 in
Pedro Reyes
Disarm (Kalashniclock)
2013
Metal
110 x 115 x 115 cm
43 1/4 x 45 1/4 x 45 1/4 in
Pedro Reyes
Disarm, (Violin III)
2013
Metal
Approx dimensions: 67 x 23 x 13 cm
Approx dimensions: 26.4 x 9.1 x 5.1 in
Pedro Reyes
Disarm (Psaltery)
2013
Metal
32 x 89 x 24 cm
12 5/8 x 35 x 9 1/2 in
Pedro Reyes
Disarm (Psaltery)
2013
Metal
32 x 89 x 24 cm
12 5/8 x 35 x 9 1/2 in
Pedro Reyes
Disarm (Pan pipes)
2013
Metal
18 x 21 x 15 cm
7 1/8 x 8 1/4 x 5 7/8 in
Pedro Reyes
Disarm (Mechanized)
2012
Recycled Metal
Installation comprising of 8 mechanised instruments
Dimensions variable
Pedro Reyes
Disarm (Wind Chime)
2013
Metal
166 x 65 x 65 cm
65 3/8 x 25 5/8 x 25 5/8 in
Exhibitions
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Pedro Reyes
24 June – 1 September 2023
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Pedro Reyes: Pohua
28 July – 14 August 2022
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Pavilions
14 January – 12 February 2022
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Pedro Reyes: Tlali
6 May – 18 June 2021
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Horizon
6 October – 31 October 2020
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Pedro Reyes: Glyptotek
2 March – 21 April 2018
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Pedro Reyes
28 February – 15 April 2017
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Pedro Reyes: Statues
28 May – 18 July 2014
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Pedro Reyes: Disarm
27 March – 4 May 2013