Guadalajara-based Gabriel Rico uses collecting as a system to understand the natural world. His pairings begin as gedankenexperiments (German for “thought experiment”). Fake fruit, vegetables, diamonds, and steaks are exaggerated to the point of caricature, which Rico arranges alongside neon forms, small branches, and taxidermy animals. When positioned linearly along the wall, as he does here, the grouping of kitschy objects and organic matter resembles a mathematical equation — steak to the power of baseball. Like Surrealist objet d’art, the work’s meaning is found through the relationship between the disparate materials and their connection to the human condition. Rico has exhibited his sculptures and installations throughout Mexico and the US, including his 2017 exhibition “PROXIMIDAD” at The Power Station — a culmination of his residency there and at Cerámica Suro, Guadalajara.
