Albano Hernández
Private Dining Room
"P25.12" (2025)
Site-specific painting incorporating physical residue and waste materials collected directly from AKI. Courtesy of Pi Artworks.
Curatorial Analysis
P25.12 is a literal distillation of AKI's physical footprint — a painting made from the restaurant itself. By processing kitchen by-products and operational residue into raw artistic material, Hernández transforms the dining environment into both the subject and the medium of the work, creating a critical loop between consumption, production, and material value that is unique to this site.
On the Core Concept
The painting is a literal distillation of AKI's physical footprint. By processing kitchen by-products and operational residue into raw artistic material, the work subverts the traditional luxury of the canvas into a critical commentary on circularity.
On Materiality & Time
"My practice is grounded in circularity, reusing leftovers and allowing waste to generate meaning. This precise execution makes the act of making a form of deep care and respect toward the history of painting."
On Connection to REI
Respect (Rei) is redirected from the sacred art historical canon toward the material world itself. It honors the overlooked, the discarded, and the metabolic processes of the hospitality ecosystem.
Artist Portrait
"Reusing leftovers and allowing waste to generate meaning — the act of making becomes a form of deep care and respect toward the history of painting itself."
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
- Frieze Sculpture, London (2024)
- Pi Artworks, London & Istanbul (ongoing)
- Royal College of Art, London — Graduate exhibitions
- Various international group exhibitions
- Art Basel Miami Beach
SELECTED INSTITUTIONAL COLLECTIONS
- Pi Artworks collection
- Royal College of Art, London
- Various private collections, UK & Europe
