GABRIEL RICO

Dates of residency: November till December 2017
Born: 1980
Nationality: Mexican
Lives and works: Guadalajara, Mexico
Education: 
2004 BA Architecture, Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Occidente (ITESO) of Guadalajara
Selected shows
2017 One Law for the Lion & Ox is Oppression, Perrotin, New York
2017 PROXIMIDAD (Gabriel Rico and Jeffrey Gibbons), The Power Station, Dallas
2017 DEAD DEAD LIVE DEAD,  ASU Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
2016 VIS VIVA, Gyeonggi Creation Center, Ansan-do, South Korea

The ARTIST
Gabriel Rico’s work is characterized by the interrelation of seemingly disparate objects. Self-proclaimed “otologist with a heuristic methodology,” Rico pairs found, collected, and manufactured materials to create sculptures that invite viewers to reflect on the relationship between humans and our natural environment. Rico frequently uses neon, taxidermy, ceramics, branches and more personal pieces of his past to create an equation or formulation. His works achieve a precise geometry despite the organic, roughly hewn character of their materials. His installations ironically and poetically combine natural and unnatural forms, insisting on a necessary contemplation on their asymmetry as well as our own cultural and political flaws.

Rico has exhibited at multiple museums and galleries including Perrotin in Seoul, South Korea, 2019 and The Aspen Art Museum in Colorado, 2019. His work was included in the 58th International Venice Biennale.

THE RESIDENCY
During his residency at BAR, Rico researched various materials, techniques and locations to develop and produce his site-specific installation at Rashid Karami International Fair in Tripoli, North Lebanon. Designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer in the early 1960’s, the concrete run-down structures of the fair were in dialogue with contemporary art as part of Cycles of Collapsing Progress, curated by Karina El Helou in 2018.

* This residency was in partnership with Studiocur/art and supported by the Embassy of Mexico in Lebanon, Mitsulift & 22 degrees.