Albert Reyes' Haunted Art Maze

I met artist Albert Reyes while standing in line to enter Giant Robot Biennale 2 at the Japanese American National Museum, where he has an installation. We began chatting and, after running into him again later on in the evening, I asked to interview him for LA Weekly. He said yes and added that I should check out his Halloween art maze. The following weekend, I headed out to a house party to walk through a maze/art gallery compact enough to fit inside an average-sized LA backyard yet winding enough to provide ten minutes or so of screaming good fun.

Liz Ohanesian

The exterior of Albert Reyes' maze

Built of found materials, Reyes' maze was reflective of his artwork as a whole. Though he is well known for his detailed drawings of regular people and pop culture icons on book covers, the overall statement is made through the way he compiles these individual drawings into a large, almost mosaic-like, installation, mixing them with old photographs and found objects like TVs and suitcases. After Halloween, I chatted with Reyes over the phone about the maze and his work at Giant Robot Biennale. The latter runs through January 24.

Liz Ohanesian

Albert Reyes in front of his installation at Giant Robot Biennale

The concept behind it was to make something artistic and fun that adults can go through and get scared and have fun. It kind of takes you back to your childhood.

How long did it take to build?

It took a year, but I changed it around a lot. I worked on it on and off for a year.

You used found materials, right?

Yeah, it's pretty much all found material or materials that were given to me.

Where did you find the stuff?

In alleys and behind businesses, stuff like that.

Did that take the longest?

Pretty much. I would go out and look. People throw out old bed frames. I would find pallets on the street.