Sheila Hicks – What is that?

Among the works presented are also the Lianes, a series developed by Hicks since the 1960s, consisting of long cords of suspended fibers. The pieces take on different configurations according to the spaces in which they are installed. Here, thread is no longer bound by the weft of a textile and thus acquires thickness, weight, and extension, establishing relationships with gravity, architecture, and the movement of the body through space.

Hicks’s relationship with the textile traditions of the Americas is further explored through a selection of Andean pieces, loaned to the Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP) through the MASP Landmann Long-Term Loan. The artist’s interest in these objects began during her studies at Yale and took on new significance in 1957, when she traveled through South American countries, visiting archaeological collections, historical sites, and cultural contexts where weaving practices remained alive. Produced at different periods and in different regions of the Andes, the pieces reveal the diversity of techniques, materials, scales, and functions that Hicks encountered in those traditions, which would become a continuous reference throughout her research.

Coinciding with the exhibition at Instituto Tomie Ohtake, Nara Roesler São Paulo will present, from August 29, Autobiografia de um fio [Autobiography of a Thread], curated by Luis Pérez-Oramas, artistic director of Nara Roesler. More than twenty recent and previously unseen works by Sheila Hicks, produced since 2017, have been selected to encompass the various strands of her practice. Pérez-Oramas’s relationship with Hicks began when the curator invited her to participate in the 30th São Paulo Art Biennial in 2012, marking the artist’s first presentation in Brazil. Together, the two exhibitions offer audiences distinct yet complementary perspectives on Sheila Hicks’s work and will be accompanied by a joint publication by Instituto Tomie Ohtake and Nara Roesler Books.