An Art Critic Accidentally Shattered a $19,000 Glass Sculpture at the Zona Maco Fair With a Wayward Can of Coke

They
say the pen is mightier than the sword, but what about a coke
can?

A
Mexican art critic destroyed a sculpture by one of the country’s
up-and-coming artists at its most prominent art fair on Saturday.
The large glass work by Gabriel Rico was the centerpiece of Mexico
City-based Galería OMR’s stand at the Zona Maco—at least, it was
until the art critic Avelina Lésper’s klutzy
intervention.

Exactly how the sculpture—which featured a
soccer ball, a tennis ball, a stone, and other found objects
seemingly suspended in a single sheet of glass—ended up a pile of
objects on the floor surrounded by debris and glass shards remains
in dispute. The critic was conducting a guided tour of the fair
when, Artnet News understands, she placed a Coke can on one of
the stone elements in order to take a picture as a critique of the
work.

Lésper, who is known as a
provocateur, defended herself, telling Milenio, the
Mexico City newspaper she writes for, that she placed the can near,
but not on, the sculpture when it
shattered. “I had an
empty can of soda, I tried to put it on one of the stones, but the
work exploded,” she said. “It was like the work heard my comment
and felt what I thought of it.” She denied deliberately endangering
the work, or attempting to leave the scene of the
accident.

“We
are very sad and disappointed by what happened today,” OMR said in
a statement on Instagram, accompanied by an image of the aftermath.
“We don’t understand how an alleged professional art critic
destroyed a work.” The gallery blamed Lésper for getting too close
to the sculpture, adding that she showed “a huge lack of
professionalism and respect” for the artist, whose work was
included in the central exhibition of the 2019 Venice
Biennale. 

The
2018 work, titled Nimble and Sinister Tricks (To Be
Preserved Without Scandal and Corruption), was priced at
$19,000. It is unclear whether Rico will recreate the work, or who
will pay for it. “I am sad because this was very disrespectful for
the pieces,” the artist said in a statement. “This is a regrettable
situation.” 

The
art critic risked
rubbing salt in gallery’s wounded feelings when, in a conversation
with the dealer following the accident, she reportedly suggested
they sell the broken work, comparing its destruction to the fate of
Marcel Duchamp’s Large Glass. (When the French artist’s
famous glass sculpture was accidentally damaged in transit, he
responded that it was now complete.) The affair soon began trending
on social media, with some people blaming the work, not the critic,
for its downfall, saying the glass was too weak and Lésper was
right to make a point. 

The
Guadalajara-based artist Gabriel Rico, who was born in 1980, often
uses found objects in his carefully arranged installations, which
combine references to Surrealism, Arte Povera, and popular culture.
Less fragile examples of his work can be admired—and safety
touched—in “Recover/Uncover,” a sculpture and design show organized
by Masa, a peripatetic design gallery in Mexico City. The group
show is on view in a distressed historic mansion alongside the art
fair Zona Maco. A spokesman for the fair
did not immediately
respond to a request for comment. 

The post An Art Critic Accidentally Shattered a $19,000
Glass Sculpture at the Zona Maco Fair With a Wayward Can of
Coke appeared first on artnet News.