Ric Pliego: Gematria

On exhibit from May 28 to June 21

El Taller Latino Americano is honored to present Gematria in the art of Ric Pliego, as part of our 35 Years Taller Series. His exhibition, "Gematria", is his latest series of paintings which feature strikingly vibrant works on canvas inspired by "Gematria" the Assyro Babylonian system of numerology later adopted by Jews which assigns numerical value to a word or phrase. In Hebrew, each letter possesses a numerical value. Gematria is the calculation of the numerical equivalence of letters, words, or phrases, and, on that basis, gaining, insight into interrelation of different concepts and exploring the interrelationship between words and ideas. 

Ric Pliego was born in Mexico City and graduated from the Art Center College of Design. He was an Architectural Designer in Los Angeles, CA, before moving to New York in 1965, working as an Art Director Designer for major Ad Agencies and running two of his own Ad Design companies, before retiring in 2001. Since then he has served as El Taller's Chief Archivist, organizing and documenting the the 35 year history of El Taller and was instrumental in helping El Taller receive a National Endowment for the Arts Grant for Los Archivos del Taller. 

Curated by Andrea Arroyo