Jay hikes

Jay Hicks’s diverse practice covers a range of traditional media, including graphite, oil paint and bronze, as well as materials found, such as mud, stones and notes. Often coming up with strange or unexpected combinations of these and other materials, Hikes questions the relationship between the substances that make up the universe, a question that arises from his lifelong interest in the natural sciences. The son of a chemist, Hayks, is especially keen on alchemy - the medieval predecessor of modern chemistry - who suggested that matter transformation is possible, if not always explicable. Thus, he embraces what he calls the mysterious “mutations” that accompany the creation of art.

Although he is best known as a sculptor, Hayks recently turned to painting in response to the social and political upheavals that span the United States. However, instead of directly referring to current events taking place on Earth, Hicks diverted his attention to the sky, creating pictures of volumetric clouds in a variety of colors. In a sense, the artist views the image of clouds as a necessary element of escapism during a particularly turbulent historical moment, but he also appeals to the idea that the cloud embodies endless possibilities. It can take any form, change rapidly, and, perhaps most importantly, not a single cloud exists forever. At a time when the present often seems bleak, Heike's paintings allow us to recognize that the future is unpredictable and only a few minutes away.