Untitled 1988

Sheila Hicks created this untitled textile work, and you can immediately see her commitment to process in the careful arrangement of the materials. The texture is so inviting, isn't it? It feels like you could reach out and feel the give of the fiber. The grey/blue shifts in tone, pulling the eye across the surface. I keep thinking about weaving as a form of drawing, so the subtle shifts in colour make me think of those paintings where the image emerges from the careful arrangement of tiny marks, like the pointillist works of Seurat. The diagonal lines create a sense of movement, but the overall effect is one of calm, maybe because the form is so regular, so solid. It reminds me of the work of Agnes Martin, who used very fine lines to create subtly shifting grids. Both artists share a commitment to simplicity and a belief in the power of repetition. In the end, it's all about how different ways of seeing and thinking and feeling can come together in one object.