Sheldon Art Galleries: Saturday, 24 February 2007

Bellwether Gallery of St. Louis Artists

Leon Hicks, Iconic Caper/Dancing IV #4 D, 2006, 37x25 inches, courtesy of the artist and 3 Sinks Gallery, Webster Groves.

Leon Hicks: Iconic Caper/Dancing
February 24 – June 30, 2007

Printmaker, virtuoso draughtsman and Professor Emeritus in the Art Department at Webster University in St. Louis, Leon Hicks has for over 40 years exhibited works that are at once aesthetically beautiful and conceptually complex. A student of art history, Hicks has studied and taught the line techniques of Rembrandt van Rijn, Pablo Picasso and the printmaking techniques of Rembrandt, Albrecht Dürer and Mauricio Lasansky, among others, but has also studied modern computer technologies and concepts since the 1970s. In this exhibition, Hicks presents a new body of work conceived as a conceptual allegory of dancing. Combining oilstick line drawings and rubbing on transparent, pastel-colored Japanese rice papers, the artist creates powerful single and overlapping outlines of dancing figures. These are installed in the gallery so that they hang and undulate with the passing movement of the viewer. Playful and beautiful, Hicks iconic images evoke the energy of expressive action.

Hicks has a M.F.A degree in printmaking and an M.A. in painting from the State University of Iowa and a B.S. in painting and sculpture from Kansas State University. He also studied Art History at Stanford University, La Romita School of Art and Atlanta University. He has exhibited nationally and internationally at numerous institutions including Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, Alabama State University, Montgomery, Alabama; University of Hawaii, Hilo and at the United States Embassy, Ankara, Turkey, among others. His works are in the collections of the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa; Charleston Art Gallery, Charleston, West Virginia, Oakland Art Museum, Oakland, California; the Saint Louis Art Museum and the Library of Congress, Washington D.C., among others.

Sponsored by Kenneth and Nancy Kranzberg
Opening reception Saturday, February 24, 2007, 5 - 7 p.m.

Gallery Talk:
Leon Hicks, Saturday, May 5 at 11 a.m., Bellwether Gallery, admission free. The artist will discuss the exhibition and his artistic philosophie