Albert Reyes’ Maze

Through pure happenstance, I recently found myself in an obscure, tucked-away corner of Los Angeles at the mystifying abode of Albert Reyes. “Tucked away” is no exaggeration: the Google Maps directions are a fractal of increasingly bizarre lefts and rights through the quiet residential neighborhood of El Sereno, leading you to an inconspicuous looking home flanked by gleaming, spotless hot rods (Albert’s dad is a member of the Eagle Rock Trompers).

Michelle from Giant Robot had taken us there on an art drop-off detour after we’d chowed down on some delicious cheese steaks at Orean’s. Within moments of our arrival, I was drooling in excitement over the life-size, unbelievably complex maze. Reveling in its sheer complexity, the first questions I had were “how?” “what?” “how long did it take?” “what is it made of?” and then, pretty quickly, “How can we get this into Mastodon Mesa?” Luckily, Albert was just as stoked as I was about the prospect of showing the maze in a gallery context, and plans were quickly set into motion.

By the time I made this video, he had already taken half of it down. He’s been uprooting brackets from the maze’s hundreds of pallets (all repurposed from trash on the streets of L.A.) and carefully removing the many dazzling dark accouterments that will soon be refastened to this astonishing labyrinth. Stay tuned for more video throughout the installation process, and get the full experience by seeing it in person at the Pacific Design Center on May 20th!