HEY! LOOK AT ME!
I'M TOTALLY ENTANGLED WITH NOT-ME!

2023.8.13-2023.11.13
artist: gabriel rico
 

The theme of this exhibition, I'M TOTALLY ENTANGLED WITH NOT-ME! , is derived from the quantum entanglement effect in physics. Despite being in Mexico, the artist's work and his way of thinking about the world are presented in parallel in the art museum in China. The arrows and mathematical symbols in the artworks make visual comparisons between different objects, suggesting an internal logic and provoking thought. The selection of these works and the design of the exhibition are inspired by Mayan myth as told in the Popol Vuh, illustrating the connection between technology and art with human knowledge through the myth of the "Twin Gods" of Mexican culture and Mayan civilization. Hunahpú and Ixbalanqué, the Twin Gods in the myth, had a legendary origin. They bothered the Lords of Xibalbá when playing at the court of the Mayan Ball Game their father had built and were called to visit the Underworld. They went through several trials and defeated the Ajawab of Xibalbá. After their victory in the Underworld, Hunahpú became the Sun and Ixbalanqué became the Moon.

Sesenta y tres from the series - Reducción objetiva orquestada, 2022, Mixed media and neon, Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin

The artist's decision to stage his first solo exhibition in China at the Beiqiu Museum of Contemporary Art is significant. Located in Huangya Catherine Plaza in Xuanwu District, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, the museum is backed by Jilong Mountain and is a unique art museum set on a hill in the heart of the city. The BMCA features a collection, exhibition, research and development, and education of contemporary art. The art museum has been restored and reinforced over the years, and the interior of the concrete-poured pavilion presents a collision of industrial and primitive. History, nature, and reality intertwined, pioneers and traditions constantly tested, the localization, multimodality, and unpredictability of contemporary art are all addressed here. Located on the uppermost level of the last century's bunker, the art museum retains the original architectural structure from more than twenty years ago. The exhibition space has the sense of a cave or subterranean, comparable to the space where the Twin Gods defeated the Ajawab in Mayan mythology's Underworld. Both Mexico and China are ancient civilizations. Southeastern Mexico and Nanjing are geographically apart, but they share a rich history, culture, and art. The implication of the works and the location of the exhibition give rise to a coherence between time and place.

Cynthia Gutiérrez, a close friend of Gabriel Rico and fellow outstanding Mexican contemporary artist, has written a beautiful text for this exhibition. Her poetic language leads the viewers into the world of Gabriel Rico's art.

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In the emptiness of the desert emerge cactus with golden pitayas and pencas made of ground and stuffed viscera. Thirst for gold. In the sky, a square sun. The loop is broken. History stops repeating itself. The wheel of nature does not turn. Spears of light piercing and illuminating the totem of the end of time. Consumed idols carrying dead nature in a sea of sand.Dazed and sad bird, giddy hare. Animals persist, but only as trophies. They look at us, still. They pose on worlds simulated by colored balls, elevated by golden rays

emerging from rocks surrounded by rings of light. Holograms. Appearance. Death that looks at you. Illusory uprising. Artificial return. False landscapes do not deceive me. Let the birds fly in the dissected world! Has everything died? The shadow of the world is a plane. I walk it painting ghosts.

Paths, paths, trajectories. The tireless search for knowledge. The absurd explanation of an inexplicable world. Ink that suffocates songs, that clouds the senses, that numbs our being. My head is a book. Silence, unbearable weight, monument to permanence, to immobility. My head is a stone.