George Billis Gallery- NY

In this series of oil and acrylic paintings Hicks moves from a literal to a more metaphorical documentation of architectural space. Taking cues from Mondrian, Klein, Pollock and Ryman, Hicks uses a fundamental grammar of line and plane to generate a painting language that leads to unexpected conclusions. Throughout the process his restricted syntax gives way to more expansive possibilities that cultivate oppositions between gesture and geometry, as well as intention and accident.

The work draws from both Hicks's former architectural study and practice as well as to his even earlier, exposure to Sumi-e painting. While the more intuitive brushwork begins to describe patterns of energy, the shifting planes mimic the architectural form of our built environment. Traces of line and plane become the equivalents of doubt, memory and time. The whole evokes an evolving abstract narrative while the best results seem at once surprising and obvious.