Luce Gallery is pleased to present artist Hector Arce-Espasas's first solo show, Taste Responsibly. Taking a critical stance on stereotypes of the Caribbean world, the artist conducts a socio-political investigation of the history and symbology contained in the representation of tropical settings in mass culture, distorting their original meaning.“A cultural symbol corresponds to a precise historical period. Nevertheless, it can transcend its original function when its image is universally recognized. In this way, appropriation of the symbolic image gets adapted by subjective interest."In today’s culture, the idea of tropical paradise is idealized as escape from every day existence, recalling visions of a mythic Eden. Paradise, too, is the pursuit of happiness, where man surpasses his humble condition by entering into an exotic journey made of palm trees and the sea. Such mythic journeys are ready for appropriation, consumption, and export.Arce-Espasas is interested in the historical and mythological meanings of Tropical Paradise as they contrast with the symbols of today, becoming consumer goods within everyone’s reach. Interested in decoration, the artist explores the borders found between common useful objects and art forms, the dichotomy between that which can be considered artwork and that which is thought of as Kitsch, a notion that continuously changes over time.Taste Responsibility presents Arce-Espasas combination of elements of tropical imagery with others of a minimal nature. With the use of clay as a medium for painting, the artist creates the structure of his work, giving a nod to the materials found in sculpture. He explores the deconstruction and recombination of another symbolic image – the pineapple – in order to decontextualize its meaning as a fruit that represents the tropics, an emblem of friendship and hospitality.Arce-Espasas warns the viewer about the illusion conveyed by tropical images. The artist extends the metaphor by including a main installation of wooden crates once used for the exporting of pineapple, and by adding a screen print of a servant offering a pineapple to King Charles II. Additionally, he points to artifice through the pitcher, an object often associated in religious texts with purity and virtue, creating an ambiguous effect of dualism, in which all objects totter between mass production and decorative feature. Likewise, several sculpted pitchers of glazed ceramic evoke the forms of a bird, symbol of freedom and Tropical Paradise. In the dichotomy between ordinary object and art form, between historical references and present-day images, Hector Arce-Espasas reveals for us the transfigurations and illusions hidden within the everyday dream