Dinosaur rEvolution – Interview with Luis V. Rey

To tie in with our Dinosaur rEovolution exhibition (28 June-14 September 2025) we had the pleasure of talking with palaeo-artist Luis V. Rey, who working with Gondwana Studios was the driving force behind the exhibition.

Depending on how you most like to consume you interviews, there are a few options below. Two videos, or one long podcast-style audio. The choice is yours!

Pictured Sinosauropteryx & Caudipteryx, © Luis V. Rey

About Luis V. Rey

Luis V. Rey is a Spanish-Mexican artist, who for over 30 years has been at the forefront of Palaeo-art. His bold, colourful illustrations are eye-catching and imaginative but firmly grounded in scientific research and what he sees in the natural world. Some aspects of his work are speculative, but in instances where we don’t have complete evidence (as is the case for much concerning dinosaurs) he uses his imagination and characteristics from the last extant branch of Dinosauria – birds – to fill in the gaps.

He has worked on publications with leading palaeontologists such as Robert Bakker and Thomas Scholtz.

You can learn more about Luis on his website and blog.

Pictured Deinonychus illustration © Luis V. Rey

Video: Why Dinosaur rEvolution?

Video: Q&A with Luis V. Rey

Audio: Why Dinosaur rEvolution and Q&A

Further Reading and Glossary of Terms

Notable people

Terms

  • Integument – a biological term for an organism’s outer covering e.g. skin or shell.

  • Ornithischian – meaning ‘bird-hipped’, is one of two basic divisions of dinosaur. Ornithischians are identified by a pelvis which is similar in structure to that of birds. Dinosaurs which are ornithischians include triceratops, stegosaurs and ankylosaurs.

  • Saurischian – the second of the two basic divisions, meaning ‘reptile-hipped’. In saurischians, the pubis is angled forwards rather than backwards as in ornithischians.

  • Dinosaur Renaissance – beginning in the 1960s with the discover of Deinonychus, the Dinosaur Renaissance is an ongoing period in which our perception and understanding of dinosaurs has shifted massively, from giant lizard monsters to varied animals that are the direct ancestors to modern day birds.

  •  Melanosomes – part of a cell which is responsible for making, storing and moving melanin, a light absorbing pigment common in animals. Traces of melanosomes found with dinosaur remains hint at pigments which may have been present when the animal was alive.