Christopher Rico

STATEMENT

I believe we are storytellers by nature. It takes stories to make us human; it takes stories to keep us human. We have always looked to the stars and created heroes and myths, stood before the ocean and interpreted its mysteries to make gods and monsters. I tell stories with gesture and form, surface and texture, in an attempt to convey that same sense of awe and wonder. I want people to find their own meaningfulness in my paintings rather than be concerned about meaning. In this way, we are sharing stories; discovering what makes us truly human.

The story of the house Atreus is literally a story of the fates ripping a family apart. It’s not an accurate biographical portrait of my situation, but the themes fascinated me and felt relevant. I began to think about the story from a father’s perspective. What is wonderful about myth is its ability to be relevant to other times and places and cultures. I would love to see this story told through a feminist lens from the point of view of Climenstria; but that story is not mine to tell.

I wanted to explore the relationships. The daughter that dies and is swept away by the divine female energy. A warrior father on the shores of destiny. The son who must supplant his mother and her husband in order to fulfill his own path. The horror and the beauty of family in all its complexity and dysfunction, writ large.

Because my work is not literal, I cannot in good conscience tell a story that way. Rather, I give suggestions; poems rather than prose, and images rather than words. I don’t know if I’ve retold the story or not, but I know I took a journey by attempting to do so. I only knew I had to try. In many ways, I made this body of work for myself. Maybe, when someone encounters these images, they too will have a journey.

BIO

Christopher Rico is an American painter living and working in Greenville, South Carolina. He has lived on both coasts and along both borders. Rico's has exhibited in New York, New Orleans, Atlanta, and Los Angeles, along with Germany, the UK and Australia.

EXHIBITIONS/SHOWS/COMMISSIONS

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022 Monk, Kasper Contemporary, Artsy
2021 Lotan, Kasper Contemporary, Artsy
2020 Everything that was Forever, Elizabeth Stone Harper Gallery, Clinton, SC
2020 Oblations and Meditations, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY
2017 Via Dolorosa, Narthex Gallery, New York, NY
2016 That was yesterday, that day, Coldwell Banker Caine Gallery, Greenville, SC
2009 St. Theresa and small paintings, Art & Light Gallery, Greenville, SC
2000 40 Days, Levy Gallery, Memphis, TN
1999 State of the Union, Main Street Gallery, Memphis, TN
1998 Scatterings of Us, Theatreworks Atrium Gallery, Memphis, TN
1998 enemy:me, Memphis Edge Gallery, Memphis, TN
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GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022 Art Market Fair, Bridgehampton, NY
2021 Monumental, virtual exhibition, Sergio Gomez, Chicago, IL
2020 Hamptons Virtual Art Fair, Southampton, NY
2020 Chrysalistasis, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY
2020 Art Goes Viral, Metropolitan Arts Council, Greenville, SC
2020 Gray/Grey (Matters), Divisible, Dayton, OH
2019 Bloom: Color, Caress and Seduction, Bill Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2019 Hurt, M. David & Co., Brooklyn, NY
2018 Elizabeth Stone Harper Gallery, Clinton, SC
2018 Art Academy of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
2017 Drift Greenville, Greenville, SC
2017 Greenville Center for the Creative Arts, Greenville, SC
2017 Ox-Bow School of Art, Saugatuck, MI
2017 Raygun Projects, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia
2017 Elizabeth Stone Harper Gallery, Clinton, SC
2017 NIAD Art Center, Richmond, CA
2017 University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
2017 Volunteer State Community College, Nashville, TN
2017 Apothecary, Chattanooga, TN
2016 No Dead Artists, Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2016 Class Room, Coventry, England
2016 Elgin Community College, Elgin, Illinois
2016 Angelika Studios, High Wycombe, England
2016 Boecker Contemporary, Heidelberg, Germany
Corridor/divisible, Dayton, OH
2015 Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY
2015 Artisphere, Artists of the Upstate exhibition, Greenville, SC
2014 Spartanburg Museum of Art, Spartanburg, SC
2013 Elizabeth Stone Harper Gallery, Clinton, SC
2013 ArtFields (inaugural year), Lake City, SC

EDUCATION

2016 MA in Rhetoric, Visual Communication, and Digital Literacy from Clemson University
1997 BA, University of Memphis

AWARDS

PUBLICATIONS & AWARDS
Dwain Skinner Open Studios Fellow, Greenville Metropolitan Arts Council, 2020
Ward, Charlotte. “Sacred Space.” TOWN Magazine, Sept. 2020, pp. 38–37. Community Journals
Harrison, Tasha (2020). “Ritual Work” At Home Summer 2020. Greenville, South Carolina: Community Journals, LLC.
Landi, Ann (2018); The Value of an MFA; Vasari21.com
Landi, Ann (2018); Under the Radar; Vasari21.com
Stowe, S. Andrew, and Christopher Rico. “Write Your Title: An Experimental Conversation Concerning Arts. Methods and Some More.” EXQUISITE CORPSE: Studio Art-Based Writing Practices in the Academy, PARLOR PRESS, 2019.
Bookhardt, E.D. (2016) ‘20th Annual NO DEAD ARTISTS Essay’, Inside NOLA.
Gould, R. (2015) Decoding the abstract | ’unlimited potential’ at Lyons Wier gallery. https://culturetrip.com
Rico, C. (2009) The Forest and the Sea. 1st edn. United States: Blurb, Inc.
Rico, C. (2008) Paintings 2008. 1st edn. United States: Blurb, Inc.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

RESIDENCIES & INSTRUCTION
2021 Tell the Story of Your Art in a Video, guest instructor, virtual
2019 Kipaipai Artist Workshop, Carey Institute for Global Good, Rensselaerville, NY
2019 The Art Fair Residency, M. David & Co., Brooklyn, NY
2014 Art and Chemistry (freshman experience co-taught with Professor of Chemistry), Presbyterian College, SC

FILM
The Forest and the Sea, They Say Build Productions, Producer, 2008

TAGS

abstract artist, gestural abstraction, large format, calligraphic art