Gabriel Rico

b. Lagos de Moreno, México, 1980

Lives and works in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Describing himself as an "ontologist with a heuristic methodology," Rico interrelates found objects and materials, reworking them to create sculptures that invite the viewer to reflect on the relationship between humans and their natural environment. He often uses neon, ceramics, taxidermy, tree branches and even more personal objects from his own past to create an equation or formulation, achieving a precise geometry despite the unwieldy organic nature of his materials. His installations combine natural and unnatural forms, treated poetically and ironically, with an insistence on the necessary contemplation of their asymmetry, as well as our own cultural and political shortcomings.

He has recently exhibited his work in museums and galleries around the world, including the BeiQiu Museum of Contemporary Art in Nanjing (China) and the Black Cube in Denver in 2022; the Institute of Contemporary Art in San Diego, Perrotin in New York and the OMR Gallery in Mexico City in 2021; Perrotin in Paris in 2020; the Aspen Art Museum in Colorado in 2019; The Power Station in Dallas in 2017; the Gyeonggi Creation Center in Ansan, South Korea; and the Kunsthal Charlottenborg in Denmark in 2016. His work was included in the 58th Venice Biennale and is part of the Korean Ceramics Foundation (KOCEF), among others.

His work is in the public collections Arizona State University Art Museum (ASU), Tempe, US; FMC (Frans Masereel Centrum); Kasterlee, BEL, Korean Ceramic Foundation (KOCEF), Icheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, KR; MASIN (Museo de Arte de Sinaloa), Culiacán, MX; Museo Jumex, CDMX, MX; The Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, US; Taguchi Art Collection, JP; Voorlinden Museum, Wassenaar, NL; as well as in private collections.