Born in 1980 in Lagos de Moreno, Mexico
Lives and works in Guadalajara, Mexico

Gabriel RICO

Gabriel Rico’s work is characterized by the interrelation of seemingly disparate objects. A self-proclaimed “ontologist 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. He frequently uses neon, taxidermy, ceramics, branches, and more personal pieces of his past to create an equation or formulation, achieving a precise geometry despite the organic, roughly hewn character of his materials. His installations ironically and poetically combine natural and unnatural forms, insisting on a necessary contemplation of their asymmetry as well as our own cultural and political flaws. 

education

1999 - 2004
- ITESO (Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Occidente), Guadalajara, Mexico, BA in Architecture 

solo shows

2023
- Upcoming, Perrotin, Tokyo, Japan

2022
- An Animal I Am!, Sea World Culture and Arts Center, Shenzhen, China
- When there were more donkeys than icosahedrons, Max Goelitz, Munich, Germany
- La incusion de mi raza, Curated by Cortney Stell, Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum, Denver, CO
- Hey, look at me! I’m totally entangled with not-me!, Beiqiu Museum of Contemporary Art, Nanjing, China

2021
- Gabriel Rico: Unity in Variety, Curated by Andrew Utt, Institute of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA
- Of beauty and consolation, Perrotin, New York, NY
- I may use an electric drill, but I also use a hammer, Gallería OMR, México City, Mexico

2020 
- Nature Loves to Hide, Perrotin, Paris, France

2019
- The Stone, the Branch and the Golden Geometry, Perrotin, Seoul, South Korea
- The Discipline of the Cave, Aspen Art Museum, curated by Heidi Zuckerman, Aspen, CO

2017
- One Law for the Lion & Ox is Opression, Perrotin, New York 
- PROXIMIDAD (Gabriel Rico and Jeffrey Gibbons), Cerámica Suro, Guadalajara, Mexico; The Power Station, Dallas, TX
- DEAD DEAD LIVE DEAD, curated by Julio Morales, ASU Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona

2016.
- VIS VIVA, Gyeonggi Creation Center, Ansan-do, South Korea

2015
- B @ V, Ex Convento del Carmen, Guadalajara, Mexico
- ZEA MAYS, curated by Vivana Kuri, MAZ Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Zapopan, Mexico

2014
- CREATIO EX MATERIA, Gallery Cuadro22, Chur, Switzerland
- B @ V, curated by Mónica Ashida, Ex Convento del Carmen, Guadalajra Mexico 
- Zea Mays, Museuo de Arte de Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico 
- La Cuchara & El Ladrillo, Public libraries Virgilio Barco & El Tintal, Bogota, Colombia
- SUPERPOCICION, the Museum of the City, Guadalajara, Mexico

2013
- B @ V, Centro de arte Tomas y Valiente, Madrid, Spain
- B @ V, curated by Guillermo Santamarina and Itala Schmelz, MASIN (Museo de Arte de Sinaloa), Culiacan, Mexico

2012
- Lo que me da forma... Lo que me contiene, Curro & Poncho Gallery, Guadalajara, Mexico

2011
- Elevando el espacio a la dignidad de atributo de dios, Gallery Jesus Gallardo at the University of Guanajuato, Mexico

2010
- Todas las formas de arte en una misma entidad, curated by Virginia Jauregui, La Vitrina, Guadalajara, Mexico
- Dela IM, Laboratorio CV930, Museum of Arts at the University of Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Mexico
- Paisajes Universales No.5, curated by Abraham Cruz Villegas, Wall project at Café Benito Sala Juárez, LARVA, Guadalajara, Mexico

group shows

2022
- Wuhan Biennale, Connected by Art, Curated by Dr. Qiu Zhiijie, Wuhan, China
- La casa que nos inventamos: Contemporary Art from Guadalajara, Curated by Viviana Kuri, Okklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, Oklahoma City, USA.
- What is left unspoken, Love, Curated by Michael Rooks, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia
- Start Talking: Fischer/Shull Collection of Contemporary Art, North Carlolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
- La epoca de Oro, Gamma Galeria, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico 

2021
- New Order: On Art and Order in Uncertain Times, Museum im Kulturspeicher Würzburg, Germany
- Cerámica Suro: Una historia de colaboración, producción y coleccionismo en el Arte Contemporáneo, curated by Viviana Kuri, Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico
- La Galaxia del Olvido II/ Episodio Puente Aranda, curated by Danielle Kovalsky, Maria Isabel Rueda, José Aramburo & Juan Uribe, Temporary Space, Bogotá, Colombia
- Nasher Mixtape, curated by Catherine Craft, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, USA


2020 
- 20/20 Afinidades Electivas, curated by Javier Rodrigue, Torre Américas 1500, Guadalajara, Mexico.
- Recover / Uncover, MASA Galería, Mexico City, Mexico 
- Take me to, Max Goelitz, Munich, Germany
- Momentum, Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, the Netherlands
- The Quintessence of Consciusness’, Curated by Degard, The Royal College of Art, South Kensigton, London, United Kingdom
- Instantánea 2020, Curated by Geovana Ibarra and organized by Rayo de Jalisco, Antigua Fábrica KODAK, Zapopan, Mexico
- XIV Bienal FEMSA. Centro Cultural Antiguo Colegio Jesuita, Pátzcuaro, Mexico
- SINERGIA, Co-curated by Salvador Cayón Chávez y Pattho Villagrán, Fundación CALOSA, Irapuato, Mexico.
- Wonderland, Galerie Perrotin, Shanghai, China 
- Momentum, Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, Netherlands

2019
- No Church in the Wild, Curated by Hiram Constantino, Otro Espacio, Guadalajara, Mexico
- Doble Filo: Geografias y Palabras, curated by Felix Suazo, Coral Gables Museum, Coral Gables, Florida
- Flora/Fauna, curated by Calli Moore, Josée Bienvenu Gallery, New York, New York
- May You Live In Interesting Times, 58th Venice Biennale, curated by Ralph Rugoff, Venice, Italy 
- Golden Hour, curated by Ingrid Brochard, Le Musée Mobile Nouvelle Génération (MuMO), Lille, France 
- Room for Failure, curated by Omar López-Chahoud, Piero Atchugarry Gallery, Miami, Florida
- Presque Rien, curated by Marie-Paule De Vil & Peter De Meyer, Geukens & De VIl Gallery, Antwepen & Knokke, Belgium
- The Nature Morte / Nature Vivante, curated by Veerle Wenes, Centre d'Innovation et de Design au Gran - Hornu, Belgium 
- Estar Vivo é o Contrário de Estar Morto, Curated by Guilherme Blanc and Luísa Saraiva, Galeria Municipal do Porto, Portugal 
- The Unbearable Impermanence of Things, Curated by Libby Barbee, Vicki Myhren Gallery, Denver, Colorado, USA
- BUSCH Magazine first edition, Berlin Avus Tribüne, Berlin, Germany
- Good Moves, The Power Station, Dallas, Texas, USA 

2018
- Unstable Stillness, Perrotin, Hong Kong, China
- CONFIGURATIONS, curated by Claudia Paetzold, IKLAB, Tulum, Mexico 
- Cycles of Collapsing Progress, curated by Karina El Helou and Anissa Touati, Rashid Karami International, Tripoli, Lebanon
- Mrs. Spring Fragrance, curated by Sotiris Sotiriou, COMA Gallery, Sydney, Australia
- Almost Solid Light: New Work From Mexico, curated by Mario Navarro, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, New York
- Le Sud BB, curated by Anissa Touati, Hangar J1, Marseille, France 
- Rooftop Playground, curated by Constance Breton, Michael Fuchs Gallery, Berlin, Germany
- Supersimetrica, Matadero, Madrid, Spain

2017
- Vecinos, CULT | Aimee Friberg Exhibitions, San Francisco, California
- Kitchen Debate, curated by Paulina Ascencio, Rawson Projects, New York, New York
- Chingaderas Sofisticadas, curated by Esthella Provas and Samantha Glaser, Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, California
- Coalescence, curated by Ericka Hirugami, Curator Love, Los Angelas, EUA
- Art Laguna Prize - 11th edition, Nappe Arsenale, Venice, Italy
- The QUEENS falls, curated by Anissa Touati and Marc-Olivier Wahler, Galeria OMR, Mexico City, Mexico
- DIY Fiction, curated by Jeovana Ibarra, Arte Careyes, Costa Careyes, Mexico

2016
- 52 Paisaje recientes, curated by Paulina Ascencio, Calosa Foundation, Irapuato, Mexico
- ¿Como te voy a olvidar?, curated by Peggy Leboeuf and Anissa Touati, Galerie Perrotin, Paris, France
- The Spring Exhibition 2016, Charlottenborg Fonden, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Fine words butter no parsnips however fine parsnips can butter words, curated by Alejandro Almanza, Present Co., New York, New York
- Reconstrucción, an Abraham Cruzvillegas Project, MAZ Museum, Zapopan, Mexico.

2015
- The Empty Fox Hole, Hisk, Gent, Belgium
- Fall Out, Whitdel Arts, Detroit, Michigan
- 8th Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennale, Korea Ceramic Foundation, Seoul, South Korea
- Map of the New Art, Fundazione Giorgio Cini, Venice, Italy
- Sure, Baby, Mañana, curated by Paulina Ascencio, Arte Careyes, Costa Careyes, Mexico
- Artesano / Artista 3.0, CECUT, Tijuana, Mexico

2014
- Artesano / Artista 3.0, Museum Reyes Meza, Nuevo Laredo, Mexico
- Artesano / Artista 3.0, Museum Caja Real, San Luis Potosí, Mexico
- Leviatán, Museo de Arte Raúl Anguiano (MURA), Guadalajara, Mexico
- Presentando lo irrepresentable, Curro y Poncho, Guadalajara, Mexico

2013
- Artesano / Artista 3.0, curated by Walther Boelsterly Urrutia, Museum of Popular Arts (MAP), Mexico City, Mexico
- Coup de Ville - Attracted by another level, curated by Stef Van Bellingen, St. Nikklas, Belgium
- Festival de Arte Careyes, curated by Humberto Moro, Galerie La Brignonesca, Mexico
- Tinnitus & fosenos, curated by Viviana Kuri and Carlos Ashida, MAZ Museum of Art Zapopan, Guadalajara, Mexico

2012
- Manifest Aanwezig, Castle Aspremont-Lynden , Oud Rekem, Belgium.
- Play panopticon, SASG (Seoul Art Space Geumcheon), Seoul, South Korea

2011
- Compilación del archivo bastardo, La Galería del Comercio, Mexico City, Mexico
- Don & Látigo, Sala Juarez, LARVA en Guadalajara, Mexico
- Shadowing cities, curated by Fiona Weir and Ans Kanen, Ruimte in beweging, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
- Lightworks, Grimsby Minster, London, United Kingdom.
- Grange Gardens Sculpture Project, GALERIE 8, London, United Kingdom.

2010
- Tenemos tanto tiempo y tan poco que hacer, CAM, Zapopan, Mexico.
- Totem, Tree amigos, Abarrotera Mexicano, Guadalajara, Mexico

2008
- Firulais, curated by Cirstián Silva, Museo de la Ciudad, Guadalajara, Mexico
- Matemática discretas, Tree amigos, Av. Vallarta 1835 Int.2, Guadalajara, Mexico
- Las mujeres de mi padre, curated by Cristián Silva, Museo Raúl Anguiano, Guadalajara, Mexico
- Dios, Tree amigos, Chapultepec 70 depto. 10, Guadalajara, Mexico

2007
- Mexican Modern Art, University of Guanajuato, Mexico
- Sindicato de Hong Kong, curated by Jorge Méndez Blake, Segundo Piso, Guadalajara, Mexico
- Mashbank, Tree Amigos, Simon Bolivar 1680, Guadalajara, Mexico

2006
- Xoconoxtle, Proyecto liga, Guadalajara, Mexico
- Quadrophoniadelayentropicjaicu, Tree amigos, Panteón de Belén,, Guadalajara, Mexico

2005
- Siete en la mira, La casa de la Tía Tina, Mexicali, Mexico
- IX Salón de la Hipermodernidad, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Guadalajara, Mexico
- Tree amigos presenta, Gallery teu Lloc, Guadalajara, Mexico
- Lo-tec, Galerry Haus der Kunst, Guadalajara, Mexico
- Natural born killer, Taller colectivo G, Guadalajara, Mexico
- Turista, Interventions to the city, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

2004
- Invocarte 04, within the activities of the Festival Cervantino at Guanajuato, Mexico

public collections

Arizona Art Museum (ASU), Phoenix, AZ, USA
ArtNexus Foundation, Colombia & USA 
Museo Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico
FMC (Frans Mesereel Centrum), Kasterlee, Belgium
Korean Ceramic Fundation (KOCEF), Seoul, South Korea
MASIN (Museo de Arte de Sinaloa), Culiacan, Mexico
The Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), Miami, Florida, USA 
Taguchi Art Collection, Japan
Voorlinden Museum, Wassenaar, Netherlands

awards

2017
- BAR Beirut Art Residency, Lebanon
- ASU Art Museum & CALA Alliance, Pheonix, Arizona

2015
- Young creators anual fellowship PECDA, (Fondo Estatal para la Cultura & las Artes), Jalisco, Mexico
- Annual program of residencies for international artist 2015/2016, Gyeonggi Creation Center, Seoul, Korea

2014
- Bursary for artists, The Ténot Fondation , France
- Proyecta 2014, award for production, Secretary of Culture of the state of Jalisco, Mexico
- Annual residency program for artistic research and production. 2014, Marnay Art, Science & Technology Center (CAMAC) & Ténot Fundation, Marnay sur Seine, France
- Binational Artist Residencies Program 2014, National Fund for Culture and the Arts (FONCA) Mexico & the Ministry of Culture of Colombia., Bogota, Colombia

2013
- Annual Research Residency Program @, Frans Mesereel Centrum., Kasterlee, Belgium

2012
- DMZ Intaernational Peace Residency., Dongguk University, The border area near the DMZ Cheorwon-gun, Gangwon-do., Korea, Republic Of
- Annual residency program of the SASG. 2012, Seoul Art Space Geumcheon, Seoul, Republic Of Korea

2011
- Suport program for production -Anual Award- Prince Claus Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands

2010
- Young creators anual fellowship, FECA (Fondo Estatal para la Cultura & las Artes), Jalisco, Mexico
- Artis Village , WARP contemporary art plataform, St. Nikklass, Belgium

ARTIST TALKS

2021
- Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, USA
- In conversation with Karla Aguiniga of the Hammer Museum & the Institute of  Contemporary Art of San Diego executive director Andrew Utt, California, USA
- Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, Thermal, USA

2019
- Universidad de  Monterrey, Centro Roberto Garza Sada Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico
- School of Visual Arts, New York, USA
- IKLab, Tulum, Mexico
- Lecture with Roland McCook, President of the Native American Cultural Programs, Aspen Art Museum, USA

2018
- T’s Talk, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- The Battery, San Francisco, CA, USA

2017
- Sursock Museum, Beirut, Lebanon
- Gallery Perrotin in conversation with Julio Morales, EUA
- Parsons The New School for Arts, USA
- ASU Arizona Art Museum, USA
- MAZ Zapopan Art Museum, Mexico

2014
- Arts University of Aguascalientes, Mexico
- Flora Arts + Natura, Colombia

2013
- WARP Contemporary Art Platform, Belgium

2012
- Laboratorio Jorge Martínez, Mexico
- Seoul Art Space Geumcheong, South Korea

  • February 1, 2023
    IDEAT — 5 PAGES

  • September 20, 2022
    ART 21 — 8 PAGES

  • September 5, 2022
    303 Magazine — 6 PAGES

  • June 1, 2021
    Wallpaper — 1 PAGE

  • June 1, 2021
    Metal Magazine — 4 PAGES

DEAD, DEAD, LIVE, DEAD

by Julio Cesar Morales (ASU Art Museum)

A small stream of ants emerge from inside a man’s hand in the 1929 epic Surrealist film, Un Chien Andalou, by filmmaker Luis Buñuel and artist Salvador Dali. Buñuel was an amateur entomologist, but he was most interested in our social behavior and poetic encounters with nature. The classic film scene symbolized corruption and loss and foreshadowed the death of the main protagonist in the film. Indeed, throughout the film, bizarre animals and insects appear, such as dead donkeys on pianos, a sea urchin and a death-head moth. The film’s use of randomness, chance and anarchy reflected the cultural climate and rise of fascism in Europe during that era.

With a post-Surrealist approach, artist Gabriel Rico’s latest body of work mines a range of materials, from taxidermy animals and preserved insects to neon shapes and found natural objects, that together create environments addressing the relationship between nature, architecture and the future ruins of civilization. Looking at the behaviors and survival techniques of insects, such as the preying mantis, and animals like the South American fox, he creates settings that reveal complexities of the current human condition. The juxtaposition of diverse life forms infuses the objects with a humor and irony, reflective of the common struggle to attain equilibrium amidst the everyday challenges of life.

The title of the exhibition, DEAD, DEAD, LIVE, DEAD, refers to research methods developed by Katherine Pigg, ASU Life Sciences research scholar and rock star in the field of fossils, who deciphers ancient fossils and connects them to living organisms. As she explains, her primary job is to “find the living amongst the dead,” visually connecting contemporary plants or life to dead fossils.

Playing with the ideas of balance, connection and uncertainty, Rico’s work reflects the notion of an “inferior mirage.” He considers the exhibition as a mirage, not in the cliché way we often see in movies or novels, but rather the more intense and immediate human experience of crossing the desert. An immigrant’s journey through a vast desert with unbearable obstacles often leads to a mirage in the same way that the ants in Un Chien Andalou serve as an omen, predicting if you will live or you will die.



by Oh Se-won (General Manager, Craft & Design Promotion Division of the Cultural Station 284 in Seoul)

Gabriel Rico Jiménez thinks of historical, cultural contexts, in a physical space where artworks are installed. His artistry touches common esthetical sentiments by delving into the contexts through reflective acts by introducing usual objects in an expected, sensual way.(in case of installations in the same specific places as Estado or Elevando el espacio a la dignidad de atributo de Dios) Such course is preceded by his artistic interpretation of ‘common’ ideas, leading to communication whereby receivers are naturally invited, lingering in front of uneasy artworks. Combined with ordinary articles and acts, resulting traces are his messages. His work is currently in much progress, assisted by his attention paid to anatomizing various contexts with various media. Characteristically, his work activities are never separated from his routine life. He does not pass by abandoned, trivial things at hand, only to think about illusions and surplus falsehood from capitalism, as individual resistance against them as well as ideological preferences. His defying practices feature his unique analysis of sentiments that is attributed to his unusual experiences. He felt regretful due to the lack of sincere communication under specific circumstances.

Artist Statement

My work is developed in the zone where an idea materializes and crisscrosses with another´s in the interobjective configuration of the space. I try to create pieces that fragment the composition of contemporary human being and evidencing the geometric imperfection in the nature using the gedankenexperiments like beginning. 

I have always been fascinated with the philosophical analogies and scientific disciplines, my work has been influenced by the sciences that study the form and the space, I consider myself a believer in matter, an ontologist with a heuristic methodology, sometimes I using technology tools and scientific models as metaphors for collective memory. 

I use deconstruction and re contextualization as methods to continue the development of my investigation in areas such as knowledge materializations & the fragility of space. My work is a reflection on the nature of the pieces from the materials used to produce them and their arrangement in the final composition.

 

2022

Johan CRETEN, Jean-Philippe DELHOMME, Jens FÄNGE, Bernard FRIZE, Laurent GRASSO, Gregor HILDEBRANDT, Izumi KATO, Klara KRISTALOVA, ob, Otani Workshop, Paola PIVI, Gabriel RICO, Aya TAKANO

February 9, 2022 - March 19, 2022

tokyo

Piramide Building, 1F, 6-6-9 Roppongi, Minato-ku

Head in the Clouds

2021

Gabriel RICO

April 29, 2021 - June 5, 2021

new york

130 Orchard Street

Of beauty and consolation

2020

Gabriel RICO

May 23, 2020 - August 14, 2020

paris

76 RUE DE TURENNE 75003 PARIS

Nature Loves to Hide

JR, Sophie CALLE, Johan CRETEN, Wim DELVOYE, Bernard FRIZE, Laurent GRASSO, Hans HARTUNG, John HENDERSON, Leslie HEWITT, Gregor HILDEBRANDT, Bharti KHER, Klara KRISTALOVA, Georges MATHIEU, Paola PIVI, Gabriel RICO, Xavier VEILHAN, XU ZHEN®

April 30, 2020 - June 18, 2020

Shanghai

3/F, 27 Hu Qiu Road, Huangpu District

Wonderland

2019

Gabriel RICO

July 11, 2019 - September 7, 2019

Seoul

1F 5 Palpan-gil, Jongno-gu

The Stone, The Branch, and The Golden Geometry

2018

Jose Leon CERRILLO, Jose DAVILA, Gabriel RICO, Martin SOTO CLIMENT

November 1, 2018 - December 1, 2018

hong kong

50 CONNAUGHT ROAD CENTRAL, 17TH FLOOR - HONG KONG

Unstable Stillness

2017

Gabriel RICO

November 5, 2017 - December 23, 2017

new york

130 Orchard Street

One Law for The Lion & The Ox is Oppression

2016

Gwladys ALONZO, Edgardo ARAGON, Ana BIDART, Pia CAMIL, José León Cerrillo, Jose Dávila, DR LAKRA, Yann GERSTBERGER, Fritzia IRIZAR, Gonzalo LEBRIJA, Jorge MENDEZ BLAKE, Ariel OROZCO, Tania PEREZ CORDOVA, Gabriel RICO, Martín SOTO CLIMENT, TERCERUNQUINTO

June 10, 2016 - July 30, 2016

paris

76 RUE DE TURENNE 75003 PARIS

¿ Cómo te voy a Olvidar ?

curated by Anissa Touati & Peggy Leboeuf
"NATURE LOVES TO HIDE" AT PERROTIN PARIS

"NATURE LOVES TO HIDE" AT PERROTIN PARIS

Gabriel RICO

Gabriel Rico "One Law for The Lion & Ox is Oppression", Perrotin New York

Gabriel Rico "One Law for The Lion & Ox is...

Gabriel RICO

podcasts