“Gabriel Rico: Nature Loves to Hide”
Through August 14 at Perrotin, Paris
What the gallery says: “Gabriel Rico’s formulas are brief and precise expressions to make, solve, or achieve something concrete. Thus, they are processes helping to resolve problems or carry out tasks with a series of symbols and rules. The big difference between mathematical formulas and Rico’s is that our artist’s symbols are ‘things’; objects steeped in value for being real by their very nature…
“… Contemporary hermeneutics, especially the interpretations triggered by French post-structuralism, offer plenty with which to interpret these ‘figures’ so they need not remain in a dark and indecipherable place. Somehow, the right questions emerge to challenge this type of construction. Thus, there are questions that rebuke from an unusual perspective and give unique meaning to these products. These are the questions asked by Gabriel Rico in this exhibition for Perrotin Paris.”
Why it’s worth a look: Rico (who describes himself as an “ontologist with a heuristic methodology”) creates delightful juxtapositions of objects according to a system he invented. The artist likes to use taxidermy animals “if the taxidermist did a good job,” he says—meaning, animals which can fool viewers into believing they are still alive.
While many of the reasons for his combinations aren’t immediately clear, close viewing is rewarded. In Rico’s a wall is covered with gold-plated feathers, all of them equally distanced—but two of them are real feathers, and not facsimiles.
What it looks like:
Installation view, “Gabriel Rico: Nature Loves to Hide” at Perrotin. Photo: Claire Dorn.
Gabriel Rico, (2020). © Diego G. Argüelles / Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin.
Gabriel Rico, (2020). ©
Diego G. Argüelles / Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin.
Gabriel Rico, (2020). ©
Diego G. Argüelles / Courtesy of the artist and
Perrotin.
Gabriel Rico, (2020). ©
Diego G. Argüelles / Courtesy of the artist and
Perrotin.
Installation view, “Gabriel Rico: Nature Loves to Hide” at Perrotin. Photo: Claire Dorn.
Installation view, “Gabriel Rico: Nature Loves to Hide” at Perrotin. Photo: Claire Dorn.
Gabriel Rico, (2018). ©
Diego G. Argüelles / Courtesy of the artist and
Perrotin.
Gabriel Rico, (2019). ©
Diego G. Argüelles / Courtesy of the artist and
Perrotin.
Gabriel Rico, (2019). ©
Diego G. Argüelles / Courtesy of the artist and
Perrotin.
Gabriel RIco, (2017). ©
Diego G. Argüelles / Courtesy of the artist and
Perrotin.
Source: Exhibition - news.artnet.com
