In the series to compound the small differences, Gabriel Rico sources several photographs of deep space satellite imagery of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), leftover primeval electromagnetic radiation from the Big Bang, taken by the Hubble telescope in 2004. This data becomes the basis of each tableaus in which the artist creates new configurations of the original photographs. They are divided into quarters and then mixed together to suggest new universes and new possibilities. Rico is influenced by the Greek Atomist School or Atomism, specifically Democritus who believed in the configuration of reality by very small blocks they called atoms. As such the artist uses his own ‘atoms' in the creation of these new realities with very small glass beads or spheres.
The technique Rico uses in these pieces derives from the cultural practices of the Wixárika people in northern Jalisco used to represent their cosmology and deep spiritual beliefs. The Wixárikas, commonly known by their Spanish name Huicholes, are an ethnic group of Mexico people living in the Sierra Madre Occidental range in the states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Zacatecas, and Durango.
Each piece in this series was hand-crafted by Wixarika community members Heriberto Castro Montoya (or Ttkitemai in the Wixárika language) and his wife Erica Bautista Bautista (or Kupuli). Through the subject and material, Rico seeks to create an environment in which Wixárikas can both tangibly and metaphorically create new universes through their own interpretation of the given photography, rooted in culturally meaningful artistic practice.