Sikkema Jenkins & Co. is pleased to present a solo exhibition of
new work by Sheila Hicks on view at the gallery from October 22
through November 28, 2015.
For over 50 years, Sheila Hicks has expanded the boundaries of
the woven form to create a distinctive and innovative body of work
that defies traditional categorization into the fields of fine art, craft,
design, and architecture. While constantly innovating with the use
of novel materials and forms, Hicks’ work continues to reflect her
early art training. A student of Josef Albers at Yale in the 1950s,
color remains a central concern for Hicks. Awarded a Fulbright
scholarship to paint in Chile, Hicks photographed indigenous
weavers and archeological sites in the Andes. This, along with
extended trips throughout Peru, Bolivia and the volcanic region of
Villarrica, the island of Chiloé, and Tierra del Fuego, reinforced
Hicks’ interest in the textile vocabulary as an artistic medium which
she continues to expand today.
The current exhibition revisits and reimagines The Treaty of
Chromatic Zones, a monumental bas-relief of pure pigmented fiber
originally realized for Art Basel Unlimited in June of 2015. Hicks
showcases the supple and flexible qualities of her materials,
sometimes deconstructing and reassembling previously used
entities to explore their infinite possibilities of form and movement.
The Evolving Tapestry: He/She, 1967-68, in the collection of the
Museum of Modern Art, New York, exemplifies this idea: thousands
of spun, twisted, bound and stacked yarns of linen and silk are
amassed and morph into different shapes and structures each time
the work is installed. Compass Arica, 2012-13, is typical of this
ongoing series of sculptures by the artist.
Also on view is a presentation of intimately scaled hand-woven
works created continuously over the entirety of Hicks’ career,
which she refers to as minimes. The minimes often reference the
extensive reach of her engagement with vastly different cultures
both in their titles and in the porcupine quills, shells, exotic silks or
rubber bands that are integrated.
Sheila Hicks (b.1934, Hastings, Nebraska) received BFA (1957) and
MFA (1959) degrees from the Yale School of Art.
Hicks first solo weaving exhibitions took place at Galeria Antonio
Souza, Mexico City (1961) and The Art Institute of Chicago (1963).
Numerous solo exhibitions worldwide have followed. In 2010, a
major retrospective, Sheila Hicks: 50 Years, debuted at the
Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, Massachusetts and
traveled to the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia and the
Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina. Other recent solo
presentations include the exhibition Foray into Chromatic Zones, at
the Hayward Gallery in London (2015) and a large-scale installation
entitled Baôli in the Grande Rotonde at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris
(2014-15).
Her work is also currently on view in solo exhibitions at Espace
Louis Vuitton München in Munich, Germany through January 23,
2016, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis through December
27, 2015, and Davis & Langdale Company in New York through
December 23, 2015. She will be the subject of upcoming solo
exhibitions at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska (2016);
Museo de Arte Contemporaneo in Puebla, Mexico (2016); and
Centre Pompidou, Paris (2017). She will also participate in the
Biennale of Sydney and the Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art, China
(both 2016).
Hicks is the recipient of numerous awards including the
Smithsonian Archives of American Art Medal (2010). She was
named a Chevalier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the
government of France in 1987, and elevated to Officier in 1993.
Additionally, she holds Honorary Doctorates from the Ecole
nationale supérieure des Beaux Arts de Paris (2014) and the Rhode
Island School of Design (1984). Her work is in the permanent
collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston; Art Institute of Chicago; Tate Gallery, London;
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Louis
Vuitton Foundation, Paris; Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; Museo
de Bellas Artes, Santiago, Chile; Museum of Modern Art, New
York; The Jewish Museum, New York; The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; and
Pérez Art Museum, Miami.
Sheila Hicks has resided and worked in Paris since 1964.
