Sheila Hicks: Stones Of Peace

About

Outside of the UK, Sheila Hicks' installation Escalade Beyond Chromatic Lands is currently included in the 57th Venice Biennale, Viva Arte Viva, curated by Christine Macel (until November 26, 2017). On view until March 2018, is Hicks’ new site-specific work Hop, Skip, Jump, and Fly: Escape from Gravity, for The High Line, New York, curated by Cecilia Alemani. Hicks’ next major outdoor commission will be located in the gardens of Versailles (21 October 2017 - 1 February 2018). Also forthcoming are two museum solo shows: Free Threads - Sheila Hicks, 1957-2017, Museo Amparo, Puebla, Mexico (3 November 2017 - 28 February 2018) and Lignes de Vie / Life Lines, Centre Pompidou, Paris (opening 4 February 2018). 

In Stones of Peace we encounter and experience various aspects of Sheila Hicks’ practice, from densely woven linen panels to soft sculptures and large scale Boules of intertwined yarns. While creating the show, she referred to works in progress as ‘slivers of sentiment, slumbering on the doorstep’. Through her limitless inquiry, we encounter a cacophony of colour, texture and form which results in a mysterious and subtle language of beauty with hidden and profound messages. Hicks communicates her perception of the world through her work; ‘If you keep your eyes open, you’re going to have a hell of a time’ (Sheila Hicks, Wall Street Journal Magazine, September, 2017). 

Sheila Hicks has been working and exhibiting for more than six decades, constantly innovating. Influenced by her research and travels in South America, she has developed a unique vocabulary which defies categorisation, transgressing the boundaries between painting, sculpture, design and architecture. Her mastery of materials, including rayon, slate, polyester, stainless steel, cotton, silk, linen, wool and bamboo along with pure pigmented acrylic fibre has enabled her to invent new forms in varying scales. 

Throughout her career, Hicks has produced Minimes, intimate objects and weavings. In many ways Hicks’ Minimes act as diaries, their titles often referencing places and cultures experienced on her extensive work-related travels to Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Parallel to these smaller works, Hicks produces on a grandiose scale; both indoors and outdoors.