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Campo Abierto / Open Field. Sheila Hicks Exhibits at The Bass
By Ashley Knight
On April 13th, American artist Sheila Hicks inaugurated “Campo Abierto (Open Field)” at The Bass, in Miami Beach. It consists of a solo exhibition of the artist’s signature two- and three-dimensional textile works, spanning more than five decades of her creative trajectory. Grouping works of art from the 1960s to present, “Campo Abierto (Open Field)” explores the formal, social, and environmental aspects of landscape that have been present, yet rarely examined, throughout Sheila Hicks’ expansive career. At the age of 84, with a career spanning over 60 years, Hicks has exhibited throughout the world, yet her work has not been as widely seen in her native United States. Producing her immense body of work, Hicks’ focused use of fibers (since 1957) straddles elements of craft, design and art, and speaks to the current moment where contemporary art embraces and celebrates textile.
American artist Sheila Hicks. Photo: Cristobal Zanartu.
Hicks’ diverse practice has been enriched by experiences living and working in Chile, Mexico and France, as well as travelling to Ireland, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Africa, Morocco and India. Her globally-informed oeuvre is solidly grounded by her Nebraska origin and formative childhood years in Detroit, Chicago, Syracuse and New Haven. Her work pulls from Bauhaus principles (garnered during her studies with Josef Albers at Yale) and brings to light an ability to use craft and traditional techniques to develop a practice that traverses artistic boundaries.
Sheila Hicks, Roots of Culture, 2018, 30 lianas, linen, cotton, leather, 78 ¾” x 118 1/8,” variable dimensions. Photo: Sebastiano Pellion. Courtesy the artist and galerie frank elbaz.
Prompting contemplations on collaboration, dialogue and discussion, the exhibition is rooted in the reconfiguration of Escalade Beyond Chromatic Lands (2016-2017), the artist’s vast installation produced for the Arsenale at the Venice Biennale in 2017. The exhibition also brings together large-scale works such as Varmayana (The Place of Shining Light) (2018), Moroccan Prayer Rug / Nejjai (1972) and Reprisage Repertoire: Three-Part Fabric Hanging (Undated) wrought from media such as cotton, linen, silk, wool, nylon, rayon, polyester, bamboo, cashmere and “various discoveries”, which exemplify her compelling use of non-traditional textile material to create monumental works of art. Hicks’ treatment of textiles offers compelling new perspectives on a medium that has previously been considered overtly feminine and less significant in the context of modern and contemporary art.
Sheila Hicks, The Questioning Column, 2016, installation view at the Art Gallery of New South Wales for the 20th Biennale of Sydney.
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In addition to Hicks’ use of unconventional materials, the scale of her works demonstrates a substantial interest in architecture and design, expanding the use of fibers beyond the pictorial into a sculptural and environmental context. With works like the towering Questioning Column (2016) and her signature minimes, the exhibition brings together several large-format installations, as well as more intimately-scaled works that utilize and transform the architecture of The Bass’ upstairs galleries.
Sheila Hicks, VARMAYANA (The Place of Shining Light), 2018, installation view of Poussières d’étoiles, Domaine des Etangs, Massignac, France, 2018. Photo: Arthur Péquin. Courtesy the artist and galerie frank elbaz.
Experienced in the geography and climate of Miami, The Bass’ presentation of Hicks’ work is at once playful and imbued with unique environmental and social undertones. A number of work titles, Palm Tree (1984-1985), Pêcher dans la rivière (1989-2013), The Silk Rain Forest (ca. 1975), allude to the topography and lush flora/fauna of the exhibition’s sub-tropical location, highlighting aspects of climate or nature within Hicks’ work. The selection of works in “Campo Abierto (Open Field)” foreground the museum’s context in South Florida, a multi-lingual locus traversed by complex immigration waves and patterns alongside environmental concerns.
Sheila Hicks, VARMAYANA (The Place of Shining Light), 2018, (detail).
Hicks (b. 1934, Hastings, Nebraska) received her BFA and MFA degrees from Yale University. She received a Fulbright scholarship in 1957-58 to paint in Chile. While in South America, she developed her interest in working with fibers. She now divides her time between her Paris studio and New York. Hicks has exhibited internationally in both solo and group exhibitions. Her work was included in the 57th Venice Biennale (2017), 77th Whitney Biennial (2014), and 30th São Paulo Biennial (2012). Recent solo presentations include: “Lignes de Vie,” (Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2018) and “Free Threads 1954-2017,” (Museo Amparo, Mexico, 2017). In 2010 a major retrospective of her work, “Sheila Hicks: 50 Years,” debuted at the Addison Gallery of American Art and traveled to the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia and the Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina. Hicks’ work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, New York City; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Art Institute of Chicago; the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; Museo de Bellas Artes, Santiago, among other institutions around the world.
Campo Abierto (Open Field) will be on view through September 29th, 2019. The Bass is located at 2100 Collins Ave. Miami Beach, 33139 | www.thebass.org.
Ashley Knight is an art critic based in Miami, Fla.
