Pocket Utopia is pleased to present a solo exhibition of Rico Gatson. It is Gatson’s desire to modulate the conversation surrounding the iconic, the conceptually efficient and the articulation of identity politics through a series of sculptures, paintings, collages and video.

A cross morphs into an “x,” a video reloads and repeats a running sequence revealing the “connection,” and a painted platform becomes a social construction. Gatson shines a light into our collective blackness and reflects a variety of cultural realities where minimalism and the Black Panther Party are on the same plane.

At Pocket Utopia, Gatson enters a relational conversation in a social space where there are no fixed meanings. His complex compositions are an evolving conversation. Pocket Utopia is also pleased to release Gatson’s limited edition print of the musician Nina Simone. This print is the second in a series of limited editions that support the exhibition and social investigations of Pocket Utopia.

There will be a salon discussion on Thursday, February 21st at 6:00 p.m. where the artist will be present to talk about the relevance of the situational prefix “post-black.” Refreshments will be served. This discussion is a part of Austin Thomas’s salon series titled, “Excuse me, you have art in your teeth.”

Pocket Utopia is an away-from center, off-center, exhibition, salon and social space run by artist Austin Thomas.