Reynier Leyva Novo

The work of Reynier Leyva Novo proposes a personal way of facing History writing. Whether from the premises of video, photography, installationism, or object production, his gaze is crossed by the postmodern tendency to enhance subjectivism and alternative discursive lines above speeches of official affiliation. His first pieces, which date back to the time when he studied at the Higher Institute of Art (ISA) and in the Cátedra “Arte de Conducta” –directed by Tania Bruguera–, reflect his interest in the investigation of very relevant events for universal history as well for local historiography. Novo recovers data, inquires, goes back to the forgotten events, and dismembers the History only for rearticulating it in new ways.      
His engagement to this way of doing has allowed him developing exhibition projects of tremendous depth and investigative solidity. Among the most outstanding are “El peso de la muerte” (Continua Gallery, San Gimignano, Italy) and “El peso de la Historia” (collateral show to the XII Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba), “Siri Devi Khandavilli” (Lisa Sette Gallery, Arizona, USA) and “El polvo, la sangre, el sueño común” (Museum of Contemporary Art and Visual Culture of Umeå, Sweden). He also has been invited to participate at the Venice Biennale (Italy), Frestas Art Triennial (Brazil), ArtBo International Art Fair (Colombia), the Armory Show (USA), and ARCO Madrid Art Fair (Spain), among others.
His work is located in prestigious institutions such as the National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba; the collection of the Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York, USA; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC, USA; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA; Fundación CIFO-Europa, Spain and the Perez Art Museum (PAMM), Miami, USA.