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Sheila Hicks, Escalade Beyond Chromatic Lands, Biennale de Venezia, 2016-2017
Photo: Andrea Avezzù

Grouping works of art from various periods, Campo Abierto (Open Field) explores the formal, social, and environmental aspects of landscape that have been present, yet rarely examined, throughout Sheila Hicks’ expansive career. Prompting contemplations on collaboration, dialogue and discussion, the exhibition is rooted in the reconfiguration of Escalade Beyond Chromatic Lands (2016-2017), the artist’s vast installation produced for the Arsenale at the Venice Biennale in 2017. The exhibition brings together several large-format installations, as well as more intimately-scaled works that utilize and transform the architecture of The Bass’ upstairs galleries. The selection of works in Campo Abierto (Open Field) foreground the museum’s context in South Florida, a multi-lingual locus traversed by complex immigration waves and patterns alongside environmental concerns.

Sheila Hicks (b. 1934, Hastings, Nebraska) received her BFA and MFA degrees from Yale University. She received a Fulbright scholarship in 1957-58 to paint in Chile. While in South America she developed her interest in working with fibers. After founding workshops in Mexico, Chile, and South Africa, and working in Morocco and India, she now divides her time between her Paris studio and New York. ​Hicks is exhibited internationally in both solo and group exhibitions. Her work was included in the 2017 Venice Biennale, 2014 Whitney Biennial in New York, and the 2012 São Paulo Biennial in Brazil. Recent solo presentations include: Lignes de Vie at the Centre Pompidou, Paris (2018); Free Threads 1954-2017, Museo Amparo, Mexico (2017); Pêcher dans La Rivière, Alison Jacques Gallery, London, U.K. (2013). In 2010 a major retrospective of her work, Sheila Hicks: 50 Years, debuted at the Addison Gallery of American Art and traveled to the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia and the Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC.

Sheila Hicks: Campo Abierto (Open Field) is organized by Silvia Karman Cubiñá, Executive Director and Chief Curator, along with Leilani Lynch, Curator, The Bass and with consulting curator Frederic Bonnet. The exhibition is supported by Etant Donnés Contemporary Art, a program of FACE Foundation, developed in partnership with the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States, with lead funding from Florence Gould Foundation, the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Chanel US, the ADAGP, the French Ministry of Culture, and Institut Français – Paris. The Bass is funded by the City of Miami Beach, Cultural Affairs Program and Cultural Arts Council, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, and sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, and The Bass membership.