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Warren Hicks
February 22 - April 8
Artist talk, April 8, 1:11 pm
ARTIST STATEMENT
In February 2015, I began documenting random observations of the times 1:11 and 11:11. They became too frequent to continue to ignore. Initially, I only made notations of the date of occurrence. Then I started capturing the occurrences with wallpaper screenshots on my phone, ultimately including elements of what was happening in my life as well.
My days are far from routine, so occurrences aren’t triggered subconsciously by repetition or location, but I do spend a lot of time on my phone. I don't cheat and wait for the time to come around. It has to be a random glance at a clock or phone or an event that happened or was captured at those times, to be included in this documentation project.
Eventually, these numbers began revealing themselves beyond the realm of visual time. One example is three addresses in Durham, NC that have significance in my life and are all located within one block of each other. They form an isosceles triangle as demonstrated on the map:
111 W. Parrish St. (original Carrack location - exhibitions)
111 Corcoran St. (21c Museum Hotel - exhibition installations)
111 W. Main St. (a close friend's apartment)
The result of this ongoing documentation is a self-portrait composed of time, events, locations, and professional and social interactions — all relative to the numbers 111 and 1111 — observed and recorded within a two-year period. The first recorded occurrence was February 12, 2015. The installation of this exhibition began on February 13, 2017. A total of 171 time captures to date are represented on the chalk wall.
FYI – The blue text bubbles in the message screenshots are my voice.
BIO
Warren Hicks is a visual and conceptual artist working in a variety of media including photography, video, sculpture, and installation. Hicks lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and works in his studio at Golden Belt in Durham.
Completely self-taught, Hicks' artistic evolution has been as unique as his personal revolution. Hicks has morphed through a progression of styles, mediums, and influences—embracing, digesting, and discarding. A restless experimenter with a keen sense of humor, he is constantly pushing himself into new ideas in visual art and in writing.
Born and raised in Chickasha, Oklahoma, Hicks studied architectural design at Oklahoma State University. Prior to graduation, he fled Oklahoma under cover of darkness to Miami, Florida to explore opportunities within the music industry. After twelve years of toil and slight hearing loss, Hicks returned to architectural drafting and relocated to Chapel Hill. In 2002, at the ripe age of 36, he began painting.
Although Hicks established himself as an abstract painter, his recent forays into photography and conceptual art have been well received. Hicks' work has been shown throughout the U.S. as well as in Beijing, China and Skopje, Macedonia.
When he isn't making his own art, Hicks is a freelance art preparator for museums and corporate art collections. Museum clients include: NC Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC; Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University, Durham, NC; CAM Raleigh, Raleigh, NC; Ackland Art Museum at UNC-Chapel Hill, NC. Some of the artists whose work has passed, but not slipped, through his hands include Picasso, Miro, Calder, El Greco, Rauschenberg, Van Gogh, Wangechi Mutu, Nick Cave, and El Anatsui.