Moves

Phaedra, 60"x 48", oil on canvas, Rico 2012-13

Yesterday, handlers came and packed up this painting bound for Kansas City.  The studio feels lighter, and soon more work will head out the door, this time bound for Atlanta.  I have been waiting to drop the news that I'm now represented by Pryor Fine Art in the ATL.  This is incredibly exciting because Atlanta has been in my sights for a long time.  The moment was right and we are very pumped about the relationship.  My work will be included in their upcoming catalog and there's an exhibition on the horizon for later this year.  Check back for dates and further announcements.

In other upcoming show news, I am about to secure a show in Greenville, SC.  This is an exciting venue and the work will be on view during the huge downtown arts festival, Artisphere.  Details forthcoming!  

For all the latest news, be sure to check this blog or my News and Links page on my website.

#artisphere #yeahthatgreenville #painting #ArtAtlanta

Tickets to the Fair

If you find yourself in Palm Springs this weekend (and why the hell not, right?), check out the Palm Springs Art Fair.  I've got some friends exhibiting in booth 314, Lyons Wier Gallery.  Readers will recall this gallery hosted the group show (Unlimited Potential) I was in back in August of last year.  Each of these gentlemen are destined for greater things, so if you're collecting get their work now.  For real.

For those of us less fortunate mortals enduring the frigid southeast with nothing to look forward to except the "first in the South" primary, we can check out the Fair's website.

Big shout outs to my mates, you know who you are!

space is the place

My studio is not perfect.  It is unheated, un-air-conditioned, no running water, to name a few.  The heavy rains of winter have caused some new issues that I'm working with the landlord to resolve.  But then, there is the space itself.  I cleared it, I configured it, I built walls, and I tore down walls.  In preparation for #NYC2017, I have the incredible advantage of being able to simulate the 2 large walls of the gallery space in my studio.  This means I can hang the show before I ship it and get a real sense of how it will work.

Because this show is large (14 paintings), everything in it needs to be solid.  Because it is a series, and holds religious meaning for many who will view it, the order of the work matters.  Being able to play and configure while I'm painting is incredible.

Despite being hampered at times by climate, this studio and I have grown together over the past 8 years.  The work that has developed comes form hours upon hours of working, writing, sketching and contemplating.  Though I am on Main Street, I often forget the world outside when I'm working.

I am reaching a point where the amount of work I need to produce will require either serious upgrades to my space or relocation.  I cannot continue to lose weeks due to cold.  Climate control for a 100 year old warehouse is inefficient and expensive, but some days when I'm there I cannot image being anyplace else.

I'll make a big announcement soon via social media and on my site.  Stay tuned.

begin again

untitled (in progress), oil on linen

Studio morning, three canvases in play working towards my solo show in New York next year. I ship a piece out to Kansas City later this month. It's happening, a result of the favorable unseen tides of fate combined with old fashioned hustle. I am three weeks away from my graduate defense, at which point I leave my midlife crisis behind me.

Focusing on the work, and solely on my art career has been invigorating and I feel a overwhelming sense of peace and focus.  I feel the work I produce in the weeks ahead will rise to another level.

Having a solo show in NYC brings about a significant change in mindset.  I know I have to bring it, that I will bring it.  As I reach out into other markets, I realize that I've crossed some threshold in terms of my career.  The single word that comes to mind to describe my current state of mind is "clarity."

The artistic practice, like meditation, is about beginning again.  Each work must be new and fresh for me, or else it won't be for anyone else.  If I've developed a style, I constantly strive for autonomy in each piece.  Building a show is intense because there needs to be some cohesion, and especially so for this show, but any one piece should stand alone.  More documentation as I push forward.

call me the rising tide

studio, January 2016

Burnt umber beneath, warming, glowing.  Artifacts within the painting's layers, never fully seen, yet altering perception through presence.  I've cleared walls, moved the large paintings to a corner.  The black gets applied next week, smooth and flat.  New canvases coming.  Building, building.

Work to cities far away.  Cities near at last taking notice?  It will all come at once, except when it doesn't.  Farther out, further, without the limitations and unconcerned about the judgements any more.

Flow, groove, work.  The tide is rising.

Meditations in an emergency

We act or we are acted upon.  Neither condition is inherently superior, so long as we have awareness and, insofar as possible, choice.  Realizing we have choice is another matter completely.  Sometimes, conditions in our lives bring about discomfort, anxiety, feelings of helplessness or hopelessness.  When we become mindful, these conditions can force us to look for opportunity and motivate us to seize that opportunity.

Sometimes, we have to knock at the wrong doors long enough to realize that no behind them wants to let us in.  Focusing on the locked door in front of us limits our ability to notice that the door isn't attached to a wall, or that there's an open window right beside it.  Metaphorically, walking away from one door can often lead us to discover a new path; or rediscover the one we started on long ago.

As in painting, being still and getting ourselves to see situations for how they are takes practice and awareness.  Belief can cloud perception, and those ill-formed or limited perceptions end up limiting the lives we are capable and deserving of living.

I've recently been given a rare and precious gift; time.  Spending this time in reflection and questioning and mindfulness is leading me to a place where I have new perspective.  This is almost always the beginning of something new in the studio.  As I embark on the work that will become my solo show next year, I find that new approaches are already presenting themselves.

The New Year

The first canvases arrived last week and I started prepping them on Friday.  I've embarked on a massive (early) Spring cleaning of the studio, one that will require an industrial dumpster and lots of elbow grease.  Clearing out the space feels like clearing out the mind.  It is not easy to start, but once underway things become increasingly vivid and focused.

As the 2017 show date has yet to be announced, I have to prepare for anywhere from 12 months to 18 months from now.  The warm temperatures will come later this week and I can lay down some underpainting of burnt umber.

I've taken 5 years off from submitting work to galleries with any serious effort.  Though I've managed to exhibit, and even have some significant ones during the interim, I'm ready to get back into the fray.  I tend to follow the work, and for a time I felt I needed exile in order to listen to it.  Recent trips to NYC have helped me come to terms with this body of work and where it fits in the landscape of abstract painting and its many conversations.  The Frank Stella show was mind-blowing.

I am about 5 weeks away from my oral exams and defense, which will unofficially end my graduate school experience.  In retrospect, perhaps I should have pursued an MFA, if only to teach part-time.  Until very recently I did not feel any desire to be a teacher.  But the decisions were made, the program chosen and now I am at the end.  While it may have been poor judgement, I can't say it was truly a mistake.  Education is always a good thing.

Related to finishing up grad school and constantly looking for a day job, I took a long, hard look at my social media energies over the break and decided to close my LinkedIn account.  LinkedIn has not been useful to me.  The fact of my having both a fine art career and a career in higher education administration seems to profoundly confuse the LinkedIn audience.  I can honestly say that I've never made a meaningful job connection through the site, despite my "all start" ranking, 200+ network and diligent updates.  I chalk this up partly to our culture's perception of what being an artist is about.  But that is another post.

I start filming the documentary this week with studio footage and audio voice tracks.  I'm told by my editor that we will produce a trailer at some point later this year, so expect to see that here.  It's good to be back in the studio after a nearly 2-year hiatus.

The Sketchbook

station study no. 5 #sketchbook

A photo posted by Christopher Rico (@christopher_rico) on Oct 31, 2015 at 7:16am PDT

For the past few months I've only been able to sketch, but as with most limitations I find that new possibilities present themselves to me through process.  A regular drawing practice is essential for artists.  It is meditation, exercise, expression and exploration.

I've been doing numerous studies since the summer, and there is a cohesion to the work that has worked its way into my physicality and memory.  

I've started bringing my sketchbook with me when I'm out on the streets of NYC.   At the very least, I will sit down with it for a brief time in the morning over coffee or in the evening between social engagements.  My preferred medium is oil paint stick, as I find it most closely simulates my painting process.  I'm able to achieve forms that I don't think I could get otherwise.  The city is always such an inspiration.

My drawing practice led me to pitch an exhibition idea to a gallery in New York.  It is a series of 14 large paintings inspired by the stations of the cross.  After being notified that the show is going to happen, a series of events gave me the idea of making a documentary film about the process of making the work and getting ready for the show.  I reached out to some friends and they are on board.  I'll start filming next month.

I've completed my coursework and spent the weekend clearing out the clutter of 18 months of grad school.  It was healing to put everything away and I head back into the studio tomorrow.

News and Updates: November 2015

A few things are changing over the next few months. Most importantly, in mere weeks I will complete my coursework for my Master's degree at Clemson. I will only have my orals and defense in the Spring. One journey ends, so a new one must begin.


I have become a founding member of The Grid, and will (hopefully) enter beta testing very soon. My hope is that my new website will unite social media posts, blogs, studio images and interviews all in one place with less effort. Administering a website is one of those things I can do if I have to, but I'd rather make better use of my time. What will the new site look like? No idea. But jumping off into the unknown is what I do, so at least it will be an adventure.


I still have the http://christopherrico.com domain, but the site may experience some hiccups during the holidays. For that reason, I'm temporarily moving back over to Blogger, The Rico Act's original home. You can keep up with news, work in progress and, yes, more studio shots, plus updates as I transition to the grid.


Of course if you follow me on Twitter, you'll get linked to my new blog posts. Check me out on Instagram as well, where I use the medium as a walking sketchbook of images that I find interesting.


Finally, I'm announcing my first solo show in NYC. This will take place in 2017, and I cannot announce the gallery yet unfortunately. I'm reaching out to a couple of friends and will be documenting the entire studio process of creating the work over the next 12-18 months, culminating with opening night. The final project will likely appear as a short web-based documentary. I hope you'll all come on this journey with me, and tell your friends.

The Rico Act has moved

Happy New Year.  The Rico Act blog has moved here [http://christopherrico.com/the-rico-act/].  Please update your bookmarks, and come to my updated website.  Those of you who have followed this blog for many years are deeply appreciated and I hope to hear from you.

painting as text

Some quick thoughts in no order of significance:

• painting as text.  no need for interpretation, it does not visually represent anything but is, itself contained and signifying
• support/frame are irrelevant other than historical artifact
• permanence is a myth
• ordering of compositional elements is unnecessary except as related to self-contained visuality wherein discourses emerge; again, these are not related to words, or even thoughts, but are self-sustained symbols and signs moving towards meaning
• art is meaningless...which is why it must be meaningful
• no one is watching
• i no longer respect systems of constraint: commerce, dissemination, recognition but rather I am interested in systems of liberation: the spatial, the arena of discourse, anonymity, immediacy.  my work has no need for identity or "style"

New approaches now present themselves to me.  I am once again adrift.

the artist takes an unexpected journey

Tomorrow is a day of planes, trains and automobiles.  As I write this, I will (with luck and no small amount of effort) be in the city 24 hours from now.  I'll hop on a north-bound train with my artist friend and we will make another friend's opening.

I decided to journey at the last minute.  Reservations were made, priorities re-arranged.  The best adventures are often those we do not anticipate; the moments we let go and allow the moment to take us away.  I needed to go and that is that.

I'm pulling the plug on this blog for the foreseeable future.  It will be available by subscription, if anyone cares.  I'm also taking it off my website and unlinking it from Twitter.  Graduate school leaves little time for much else, and rather than write about art and my career struggles, I want to spend that precious time actually making it.

The audience for this blog is very small, and some of you I know personally (or feel like I do in other cases) and I thank everyone for supporting me.