The Raul Review: Logan Hicks "In Full Bloom"

Logan Hicks brings us a new exhibition, In Full Bloom at Taglialatella Galleries. The veteran stencil artist will be presenting a collection of paintings on canvas, hand-sprayed multiples and limited edition prints at the gallery’s flagship location in Chelsea, NYC.

The title In Full Bloom references the nature and floral elements featured in the artists upcoming solo exhibition, however it also seems to describe the current state of his art practice. Hicks likens painting with stencils to speaking a language, where as when you start you may only be able to communicate at a simple level, but as you gain a better understanding of the “words” you can express yourself in a much more articulate way. According to the artist, it took about seven years of mastering the use of stencils to come to a point where he felt as if he was able to “speak fluently” using the medium. Once the technical hurdles had been overcome, the work was then able to gain a greater depth.

After having been an active participant in the street art world for years, the old masters have become an unlikely source of inspiration to Hicks’ work, using his very much contemporary medium to reinterpret classical themes and approaches. Sometimes this takes the form of repainting a classical painting, however most of the time he will tackle a new subject imagining how the old masters might have approached it if aerosol were available to them during their time. Hicks uses impressionism as an example, “If you look at the work of Georges Seurat, it’s easy to imagine how aerosol paint could be used to replicate that process nicely”.

Having pushed the limits of stencil art over the past several decades, Logan Hicks has solidified himself as a master of the medium. One does not have to look back in retrospect to see that Hicks’ work at this time is truly in full bloom. The exhibition opened Thursday May 16th at Taglialatella Galleries Chelsea and runs through June 10th. The gallery is open from Monday - Saturday 10:00 - 6:00 and Sunday from 11AM - 5PM.