Ernesto Rios, Constellation V, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 132 x 132cm

Born in a country of colossal pyramids, these forms began to appear almost unconsciously in the work of Ernesto Rios. Accessing this visual element prompted Rios towards architect, academic and theorist Bernard Tshumi’s celebrated text, Questions of Space, which proposes the idea of an architecture of the senses and of the mind.

In ‘The Architectural Paradox: the Pyramid and the Labyrinth’ Tschumi analyses the contrast between the pyramid as a symbol of the rational mind and the labyrinth as a symbol of the irrational body. He demonstrates that such oppositions are, in fact, complimentary and that one could not exist without the other. For him, the problem lies not in perception, rather in representation. As a result, the fundamental paradox in the practice and experience of architecture is the impossibility of questioning the nature of space and at the same time making or experiencing real space. In Pyramidal-labyrinths at Anna Pappas Gallery, Rios presents a new body of work which continues his examination of this binary opposition.

Ernesto Rios was born in Mexico City where he studied photography, hispanic literature and linguistics, history of art and fine arts. Rios holds a Masters Degree from Tisch School of the Arts, New York University and is currently a PhD candidate at RMIT University, Melbourne. Rios has exhibited extensively both in Australia and overseas, including 17 solo exhibitions and 60 group exhibitions in major cities such as New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Valencia, Sao Paulo, Melbourne and Mexico City.