Diane Rosenstein Gallery is pleased to present Trophies, a solo exhibition of ceramics by David Hicks. The installation features new glazed vessels from his ongoing “clippings” series. David Hicks is based in the San Joaquin Valley in Central California, and this is his third solo exhibition with the gallery.
“They are trophies. They’re homages to the cast-off, the overlooked, those things that are discarded… They’re kind of a reliquary: a monument to the things that I think often, especially where I’m at, are so overlooked, socially.”
The title, Trophies, refers to the agricultural and floral cuttings that adorn the hand-built earthenware bowls, bottles, jars, and ewers that Hicks then glazes in dynamic applications. He describes these glazes as being in a decayed state of “optimal softening,” and his process goes through multiple firings that break down the surfaces, causing the glazes to rupture and melt in a “call and response” process. The glazing palette centers on pale pink and vibrant green, inspired by a leafy and flowering branch that fell from a backyard tree at Hicks’ home. Other vessels are radiant in orange and pale blue, with varied surfaces and tonal values varied as if excavated and then resurrected into a new life.
“These are rethinking the vessel – instead of being a container that would hold these elements to a vessel being encrusted by the things that they’re meant to hold.”
