Sheila Hicks "Migdalor"

SHEILA HICKS
Migdalor
October 11, 2018 – February 15, 2019
Curator: Karmit Galili

Migdalor by Sheila Hicks, is the second exhibition presented by Magasin III in its permanent satellite space in Jaffa, greater Tel Aviv since it opened in January 2018. The solo exhibition will feature a series of Hicks’ distinctive and vibrantly-colored sculptures, created from materials ranging from the traditional and natural – such as linen and cotton – to newly researched industrial materials based on new technologies.

Sheila Hicks is an internationally-renowned American artist, based in Paris since the mid-1960s with a career spanning six decades. She is known for her ground-breaking use of materials and color, and has redefined boundaries through her practice. Inspired early in her career by pre-Columbian textiles, Hicks is constantly innovating, and her brightly colored works transform and adapt to each new environment.

Migdalor, curated by Karmit Galili from Magasin III Jaffa, features three significant recent installations by Hicks. The monumental Saffron Sentinel (2017) is the principal work that will occupy a large section of the exhibition space and be visible from both windowed façades day and night. Hicks originally produced this massive presence for her retrospective exhibition at the Centre Pompidou this past winter.  More than 200 bundles of pure pigment, transformed into loose fiber, are stacked and piled floor to ceiling inviting the visitor to become immersed in color fantasies.

Also on view will be Hicks’ Comets (2016-2018), a bas-relief sculpture composed of circular sculptures in a range of vibrant colors, textures and shapes extended along one of the major walls. An earlier version of this dramatic ensemble was presented in the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris this year.

The third installation in the exhibition, titled Menhir (2016), will hang from Magasin III Jaffa’s double-height ceiling.  It is a soft column of wrapped cords billowing in space and spilling on to the floor in elegant, fluid patterns.

Hicks chose the exhibition title Migdalor (the Hebrew translation for “Lighthouse”) as a symbolic reference to forms that can be path finders.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for the Israeli and international audience to experience the work of an artist whose fascination with new and unusual materials, together with her deep interest in traditional production of materials in various cultures, contributes to our cultural understanding”, says Karmit Galili.