Blue Shade (2019) features richly layered washes of Parisian blue pigment, a notable departure from the artist’s previous works on paper, which often utilize a monochromatic palette of brown, red, or grey. The drawing boasts an almost obscured delicate sketch of a plant whose rhizome-like branches suggest endless expansion outwards. Brey frequently incorporates rhizomatic forms into his work. Indicative of the artist’s rhizomatic understanding of dualistic concepts like life and death, good and evil, etc., the continually growing stems signify his embrace of multiplicity and the non-hierarchical. Refuting reductive binarisms, Brey’s art surmounts divisions between myths, religions, and systems of thought and value to champion a holistic approach to understanding the human condition.

Brey’s work has been the subject of numerous solo presentations, including the recent exhibitions Adrift at Museum De Domijnen, Sittard, the Netherlands (2019); Fuel to the Fire at the Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen (M HKA), Antwerp, Belgium (2015); BREY at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana, Havana, Cuba (2014); and Universe at the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (SMAK), Ghent, Belgium (2006–2007). He has also participated in innumerable group shows, including the 56th Venice Biennale, All the World’s Futures, curated by Okwui Enwezor (2015); Trattenendosi at the 48th Venice Biennale, Italy (1999); and Documenta IX in Kassel, Germany (1992). Brey’s work is featured in countless private and public collections, including the Bouwfonds Art Collection, The Hague, the Netherlands; Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam, Havana, Cuba; de la Cruz Collection, Miami, FL; Fonds national d’art contemporain (FNAC), France; Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection, Miami, FL; Museum de Domijnen, Sittard, the Netherlands; Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen (M HKA), Antwerp, Belgium; and Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (SMAK), Ghent, Belgium, among others.