olivia hicks
My practice is focused on the relationships between drawing, painting, sculpture, performance and print and draws from a mix of folklore, architectural theory, historical references, belief systems and magical realism to explore the permeabilities between the body, complex emotional states and architectural /transient spaces and natural landscapes. These spaces are often inhabited by otherworldly creatures or spirits, drifting their way in and out of reality. I am interested in the sculptural idea of both the room and the body as a container or vessel which objects and emotions can pour in and out of, and drain leak or overflow, or even move through portals into new dimensions.
My work is often influenced by a sense of place, often with a strong connection to nature where a narrative thread runs within it which pieces it all together. This can include layers of stories blending together from history, folklore, rituals or from one of my many literary influences. I am interested in the gothic, surreal and magical realism. The power held within narratives, whether they be present or historical and the balance between truth and untruths and everything in between fascinates me.
I begin a new series of work by firstly reading, researching and sometimes writing a story/poem around my ideas or visiting a particular place. The work can often be situated in a mixture of architectural spaces, ranging from domestic interiors to transient spaces, public architectural forms or unusual natural landscapes. Based on these interior worlds that I create within these spaces I then begin to make lots of drawings, sculptural objects, paintings and prints. This process usually culminates in installations that blend narratives and time zones together to create an alternative reality, which can often help overcome different emotions or confront complex past life events and weave together personal social history, spirituality and ancestry.
While I am interested in what can be embodied in architecture, I also look to the status of the body itself and its relationship to its surroundings. The skin can be visualised as a magical architectural membrane that holds us together. Within my narratives characters are created, much as in short stories and the psychological and physical effects on them of the built and natural environment are key to my explorations.
The fetish like objects, drawings, paintings and prints that I make inhabit a blend of architectural spaces(either in the body or in a place) that use ideas of “apotropaic”(protective) folklore and magic that can defend, protect, constrain or invigorate the body.
Olivia Hicks (b1971, Kent, UK) is a London and Lisbon based visual artist, lecturer in Fine Art, art educator and curator of the Rented by the hour art exhibitions. Since graduating from the Royal College of Art in Fine Art Printmaking in 2010 she has appeared in numerous exhibitions including The Derwent Art Prize, The Trinity Buoy Wharf drawing Prize, The Mann group drawing show, The Cob gallery and The RWA where she won The institute of Directors prize. She has also lectured at The Ruskin School of Art and The Croydon School of Art. Her practice and research is focused on the relationships between drawing, painting, sculpture, collage and print and often draws from architectural theory and the natural world to explore the permeabilities between the body, complex emotional states and architectural and transient spaces
Upcoming Exhibitions
Solo Exhibition – Lisbon 2025
October 2024 Studio Residency Atelier Arteria Lisbon
Wells Art Contemporary – August 2024
Textile Open – No Format Gallery – July 2024
June 27th – July 1st 2024 Ruthin International Arts Festival – June 2024 Blood, Water, Honey and Wine (Drawing performance in the landscape)https://ruthinartsfest.org/live
Summer is a-cumin in! – Tadhg Mae Projects – Hastings – 4 May/June 2024 running alongside Hastings Jack in the Green Festival.
The Entranced Essence – Rupture Exhibit – London April/May 2024
Pop up Shop – Kingston Artists Open Studios- at Fusebox, Creative Youth London
SFSA Drawing Open – Deptford May 2024
Uncontrollable Beasts – Rented by the Hour online show March 2024
December 1st – January 6th 2024- The Dreaming – WIA Gallery Winter Open Exhibition, Lewes, UK
October 2023 -We are the Witches – online show – Phantasmal Gallery
November 2023 – Open Studio – Saturday/Sunday November 25th and 26th 1-6pm (or by appointment beforehand)
2023 – Shortlisted artist – Dreams and Visions art Competition – The College of Psychic studies – film of the virtual art exhibition released Jan 2023
Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2022 – touring exhibition- (currently at The Art House, Jersey)
September 2022 – IMPACT 12 – The Printmakers Garden – Centre for Fine Print Research – UWE Bristol
Muse – Art and Performance – Candid Arts Gallery 20 – 24th July 2022
2022 – The Divided Self – online group show on Instagram @rentedbythehour of contemporary portraiture
Royal Cambrian Academy Open exhibition 2022, Conwy, Wales – opening Jan 8th 2022
2021 – Touch Wood -The Artspace, Clarence St, Kingston upon Thames. 27th July – 7 August.
2021- Oak and Ash and Thorn – Wild Harvest – launching on Summer Solstice 21st – 24th June – online group show, facebook (pagan and nature)
2021 – The Virtual Art Fair – online Art Fair launching 1pm May 1st
2021 – Lockdown Sketchbook – online project on the @rentedbythehour Instagram platform featuring selected artists -on going project beginning in February 2021
2020- Home Sweet Home (online group show Rented by the Hour programme)
2019 – Printabilities – Contemporary print- Marlborough College, Wiltshire
2018 – Printabilities – Contemporary print- . St Georges Print room Gallery, Cologne
2018 -RCA Secret Postcards, RCA London
2018 – 40 Years of Printmaking Oxford Printmakers, Cloister Gallery, Oxford.
2017 – Art 4 Grenfell- Charity auction – London
2017 – Secret postcards RCA- London and Dubai
2016 – Secret postcards RCA- London and Dubai
2016 – On paper festival – Norwich
December 5th- 6th 2014 – The Last Breath – Clearlake Hotel, Kensington (part of the Rented by the hour curation programme) www.rentedbythehour.blogspot.com
November 2014 – This Has Nothing To Do With Politics – Function room, London. In association with The Centre for Performance and Creative Exchange and Dept of Drama, Theatre and Performance, University of Roehampton.
Selected shows;
March 2014 – Stewarts Law, RCA Battersea.
Dec – Jan 11 2014 – Charlie Dutton Crash Open Salon (selected by Phillip Allen, Neal Tait and Martin Coomer)
November 2013 – Land of Hope and Inequality – Blundell St Studios, Kings Cross Nov 21 – Nov 24, London
2013 – Infinitum – The Gallery@ Natalie Galustian Rare books, London
2013 – Derwent Art Prize, Mall Galleries
2013 – ArtStart Home project, New York
May – June 2012 Sex and Death – Guts for Garters, 20 Earlham St, Covent Garden
April 2012 – A place called home – Rented by the hour Clearlake Hotel, Kensington
Nov 2011- RCA Secret
Nov 23- Dec 23 2011- Anatomy – Guts for Garters , Cob Gallery, Camden
4 Nov-16 Dec 2011- Print and Design now- Bearspace, Deptford
2011 – Print and design now- SW1 Gallery
2011 – Photomedia- Charlie Dutton Gallery
2011 – Art Car boot sale -Brick Lane
2011 – Surreal Women- Guts for Garters
2011 Afternoon Tea – Venice Biennale
2011 The Royal We- Guts for Garters and Cob Gallery
2010 Body in Parts- Cob Gallery
2010 Albion show- Norman Foster building
2010 Roll Up- Jealous Gallery
28 May-6 June 2010 Show One – Royal College of Art
Mar 2010. Man Group Drawing Show, RCA London
Feb 2010. -Park View Situ- Cafe Gallery projects, London
Jan 2010. Apartment 21, Kensington
2009. RCA Secret
2009. Man Group Drawing Show, RCA London
2009. Space Reverie -Cafe Gallery projects, London
2009. John Norris Wood Natural Forms Drawing Show
2009. BOOM, Royal College of Art
2008. RCA Secret
2008. Modern Art Oxford
2006. Urban Ecologies of Hope (British Art Show, commissioned essay for Situations)
AWARDS
2024 People’s Choice Award – WIA Gallery
2010. Distinction, MA thesis, Royal College of Art
2009. Runner up, John Norris Wood Natural Forms Drawing Prize
2004. Institute of Directors Prize, Royal West of England Academy
TEACHING AND LECTURING
2018 – Croydon School of Art -BA Hons Fine Art
2014-16 LISC International School, London
2010 The Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford – BA Hons Fine Art
Ongoing private tuition and Art workshop facilitator for International and home students at www.oliviaarteducation.com
COLLECTIONS
Private Collections in UK, USA, The Philippines and the Caribbean
PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
2005. Victoria and Albert Museum
© 2024 Olivia Hicks
