“I definitely prefer art that keeps asking interesting questions rather than trying to offer up easy answers or obvious explanations. Though, if I had to pin it down, I think I’d say that this show, like the rest of my work, probably all revolves around the slippery notion of ‘truthfulness’, both in art and life in general.”
Roland Hicks
Roland was the recipient of the Evelyn Williams Drawing Award in 2021 for his drawing Double Chip/Shuffle Zip and his accompanying proposal to transform a gallery space at Hastings Contemporary. The Fourth Wall was the third exhibition resulting from the Trust’s collaboration with Drawing Projects UK, the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, and Hastings Contemporary.
The artist describes his work as belonging “somewhere between the traditions of still-life painting, Arte Povera, Neo-Dada assemblage, and various types of geometric abstraction.” He produces art which demands a double-take from the viewer. You could walk into the space at Hastings Contemporary and mentally register that the space seems under some sort of gimcrack, bodged renovation, that the exhibition had not yet arrived, but that temporary refurbishment and adaptation was underway. Hicks riffs on twentieth century modernism but also is happy to prompt associative play of an array of competing notions. A makeshift wall put in place to defend or guard against what? Whilst building towards his installation Hicks reflected:
“All illusionistic art involves some kind of deception. These walls will effectively be built from misinformation and misdirection.”
The play of allusions runs rife and is light touch on some of the pressing conditions of our times. The Fourth Wall aims to be ambiguous, enigmatic even, certainly intriguing.
Double Chip/Shuffle Zip (2021)
Roland at work on The Fourth Wall
