Gabriel Kuri
Born in 1970 in Mexico, Gabriel Kuri lives and works in Mexico and Brussels.
He graduated in 1992 from l’Escuela Nacional de Artes Plasticas U.N.A.M. Mexico (1992) and in 1995 from Goldsmiths College of Art.
He is represented by the following galleries: Esther Shipper (Berlin), Sadie Coles HQ (London), Kurimanzutto (Mexico) and Franco Noero (Turin).

Statement
Like artists such as Gabriel Orozco or Damian Ortega, Gabriel Kuri comes from the very dynamic Mexican scene, which has had a strong impact on contemporary art since the early 2000s. Kuri works mainly in the field of sculpture, a medium through which he explores the possibilities in a broader sense, with a particular attention attached to the spatial contexts of works (inside or outside, in the gallery, an art centre or other types of spaces, notably functional ones). His project consists of conveying his version of the contemporary world by means of objects coming into his possession (found objects, oftentimes insignificant items) or objects coming from him, i.e. that he himself makes in his studio. The heterogeneous materials that punctuate his work (such as cigarette butts, parking tickets, industrial items, packaging) reflect consumer society and a globalized world but at the same time, are imbued with idiosyncrasies. The questions relating to sculpture that his work poses – the play of angles, circles, colours, volume, tactility, etc. – are updated according to the central element: the organization of forms, the method of classification and taxonomy. Beyond the selection of different elements, their alignment or means of presentation constitute essential parameters structuring the works. Their arrangement is illustrative of a search for coherence, a sense of balance, all of which are impossible to achieve, as these are constantly threatened with instability from all sides.

Declared Preferences vs. Revealed Preferences, 2012
Fire-proofs bins, shell, metal, PVC
115 x 85 x 43 cm / Unique piece
Acquisition in 2013

Three black bins in Declared Preferences vs. Revealed Preferences play the role of display cabinets showcasing different elements, industrial (pipes) and natural (shells), which were found by the artist. Like the glass cabinets, pedestals, tables or other maquettes frequently featured in Gabriel Kuri’s sculptures, these functional items become props for exhibiting the object, thereby revealing a certain taste for the art of display. Ordinarily intended to hold rubbish, the bins reveal their seductive, plastic qualities (texture, form). Arranged in ascending order, they form totems threatening to swallow up the objects placed on their rim, an unstable support. Their alignment refers to a system of classifying preferences evidenced in the title of the piece, by the artist who often appropriates statistical tools, economic language (graphs, charts etc.), generators of abstract forms, in order to compose his works. In doing so, he implicitly evokes questions relating to the real world, all the while producing a powerful, formalistic, impure animate and inanimate art, blowing hot and cold.