Coloured rigid plastic, magnets, aluminium sheet, coated steel sheet, rivets
169 x 86 x 2.8 cm
Acquisition in 2016


Rubén Grilo 
in 1981 in Lugo (Spain), lives and works in Berlin (Germany).

6 Nestlé Aero 28 Bites, 11 Valor 11 Bites, 2 Niederegger Lübeck Marzipan Classic 10 Bites (More or Less), 1 Cadbury Dairy Milk Marvellous Creations Cookie Nut Crunch 16 Bites, 3 Nestlé 50 Bites (Approx.), 3 Smarties Sharing Block 16 Bites, 13 Lindt 10 Bites and 1 30 Bites, 1 Cadbury Bourneville Classic Dark 32 Bites, 2015

 

Often taking the form of installations combining projected and printed images, Rubén Grilo’s works address on the one hand, the relationship between art and information, and on the other hand, that between art and industry, particularly through the appropriation or misappropriation of certain materials and technical processes (for example, he has devoted several series to denim). On the metal panels of his Chocolate Moulds, lie imperfectly shaped grids in soft pastel colours. As the visitor approaches, his eye identifies the forms of the chocolate bars whose number, brand and arrangement are inventoried in the titles of each of the artworks. The artist has subverted the conventional method of manufacturing by making moulds from food directly purchased in the shops, from products known for their unstable nature (particularly with regard to temperature). Some have even been partially consumed (as evidenced by the teeth marks on some of the chocolate bar moulds). The variation in terms of form (depending on the brand) and their many imperfections results in the creation of an abstract material composition. These compositions are based upon the presence or possibility of error in these industrial-type elements that are supposed to be error-free. Through the alliance of taste, texture and colour, they construct gourmand typologies that articulate conflicting notions: the standard vs the unique, industry vs hand-made, and functionality vs the purely decorative.