Sheila Hicks, Atterrissage, 2014, pigments, acrylic fibers. Photo: Zarko Vijatovic.
Kunstmuseum St. Gallen presents a little bit of a lot of things, a solo exhibition of work by Sheila Hicks. a little bit of a lot of things marks Hicks’s first major institutional solo show in Switzerland as well as the first exhibition curated by Gianni Jetzer in his new role as Director of Kunstmuseum St. Gallen. The works featured in this show span a period of more than fifty years, highlighting Hicks's inventive techniques and experimentation across scale, color, and material.
Large-scale works alternate with small weavings, which the artist continually works on from time to time, like drawings. Hicks has repeatedly invented artistic manipulations in order to articulate new forms out of textile materials, such as weaving interspersed with found objects from nature, scepters wrapped with colored wool, and accumulations of threads tied into ropes as thick as an arm.
The architecture of the Lokremise Kulturzentrum is ideally suited to Hicks's sense of space. Two monumental textile columns extend up to the ceiling of the industrial building; a heap of colorful wool nets forms a soft sculpture with painterly qualities. These artistic interventions put surrounding dimensions into perspective, fundamentally changing the space and one's experience of it.
Sheila Hicks: a little bit of a lot of things is on view through May 14. To learn more, click here.