Daniel Rey (b. 1990, Caracas) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work seeks to undermine ideas of masculinity by questioning our understanding of cultural norms in patriarchal societies. Rey’s practice is an exploration of notions of identity, architecture, and the crucial relationship between space and bodies that inhabit our world today.

His practice is wide ranging, comprising ephemeral installation, performance, painting and drawing. With a professional past-life in architecture, he uses the processes and elements of construction to question supposedly fixed identities.

The Swimmer is a dreamlike silhouette painting, of a swimmer diving under moonlight, inspired by the pool scene with Gabriel Garcia Bernal in Almodovar’s Bad Education. The painting formed a vital part of the installation created for Rey’s degree show performance titled Why Do Swimmers Suddenly Appear, which sought to explore fluid notions of masculinity within the realm of competitive swimming.

He was awarded the LVMH Maison/0 Earth Award 2023, and his work will be published in Issue #3 of Equis Magazine. Furthermore, his zine titled Macho Glitch has been included in The Digital Archive of Artists’ Publishing (DAAP). Rey was selected for the Tokyo Summer School of the Shared Campus collaborative platform, and he is one of 55 artists in this year’s New Contemporaries, which will see his work exhibited at Grundy Art Gallery (Blackpool) and Camden Art Centre (London).