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Ron Hicks
artwork
b. 1965
Ron Hicks was born in Columbus, Ohio but spent most of his childhood in the friendly neighborhood of Park Hill in Denver, Colorado. Ron's family later relocated back to Ohio where he attended high school and received several awards and honors for various art shows and competitions. His talent became obvious and noted throughout his high school career and Ron was awarded a full scholarship to Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, OH. He later returned to Denver and subsequently earned a degree in Advertising Design.
After winning Best of Show at the 1994 Art Students League Exhibition, Hicks began painting full time. Since then, his career has escalated and he has become one of America's finest emerging artists. Hicks worked for a time as a freelance illustrator while he painted at night. "Maybe it's three years of night painting that gave me my subtle palette," he says half-jokingly.
Hick's works have been characterized as a blend of representational art and impressionism. Some critics have compared them to paintings by Rembrandt and Daumier. The artist translates his own moody visions with a muted palette and rarely uses pure color. He finds tremendous variety and range in gray, which suits the atmospheric qualities of his compositions. Ron's paintings move beyond simple documentation, capturing mood, gesture and layers of emotion.
Shelves in the artist's studio are lined with art books about Nicolai Fechin, James Whistler and William Merritt Chase. There are also volumes featuring Hicks' main muses John Singer Sargent, Edgar Degas and Diego Velazquez. As an artist, his philosophy involves guiding the viewer through a painting, much like his artistic idols, by striking a balance between revealing too little and not enough detail. "It's a very delicate balance," Hicks says.
"You can tell a lot about a person by just one gesture. Capturing that in a painting is one of those things that just happens without my thinking about it," Hicks said.
He believes the key to his work is his awareness of the subtleties of his surroundings, the effect of light and its movement, color shifts of warm to cool, and how shapes and design occur naturally. Ron's influences include the Seventeenth Century Dutch masters Van Dyck and Rubens. His painterly style uses deceivingly loose brushwork that somehow manages to create satisfying tangible space and depth in paintings whose subjects range from still-life to figures.
Hicks' works are collected by celebrity jewelry designer DiGrisogono, Grammy Award Winning Artist John Legend, TV Host Kathy Lee Gifford and McDonalds Corporation, just to name a few. Additionally, he is published several times in major Art publications, books, and noted in The Denver Post. Newbury Fine Arts is proud to now represent the masterful paintings of Ron Hicks.
Education:
Art Students League of Denver, Denver, Colorado
Colorado Institute of Art, Denver, Colorado
Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus Ohio
Articles:
2015 - May Southwest Art, “Ron Hicks’ Artistic Path Led To Work That Feeds His Soul”, Feature Artist
2001 - December American Artist, Feature Artist
2001 - September U.S. Art, "Artists We Love"
2001 - September, '7 Foundational Truths of Traditional Academic Painting, by C.W. Mundy, International Artist
2000 - September Southwest Art "Art Events" by Editors, Southwest Art
2000 - November Southwest Art "Painting the Figure" by Crookston, Nancy Seamons
2000 - November Southwest Art Magazine "A Timeless Vision" by Gangelhoff, Bonnie
2000 - May Art & Antiques "Emerging Artist-Ron Hicks" by Editors
2000 - February Art Talk "In the Galleries" by Editor, Art Talk
1998 - September Southwest Art "Artists to Watch" by SW Editors
1998 - October Denver Post "Ron Hicks"
1998 - October Art Talk "In the Galleries" by Editor, Art Talk
1998 - November Spirit, Denver Rocky Mountain News "Celebration of Human Form"
1994 - June Westword "Seeing is Believing"
1994 - Collector's Edition "Many Roots, One Spirit"
Books in which artist or works are featured:
2001 The Artists Bluebook 24,000 North American Artists by AskART.com
2001 Third Annual Realism Invitational by Failing, Patricia
Museum Exhibitions:
1994 Down Home: An African-American Art Experience, Aurora History Museum, Denver, Colorado
Gallery Exhibitions:
2001 (2000-2001) Solo Show, Meyer Gallery, Park City, Utah
2001 American Miniatures Exhibition, Settlers West Gallery, Tucson, Arizona
2000 Summer in Paris, Merrill-Johnson Gallery, Denver, Colorado
2000 Invitational, Jenkins-Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, California
2000 (1999-2000) Colorado Governor's Invitational, Loveland, Colorado
2000 (1999-2000) Artist of America, Denver, Colorado
1999 (1997-1999) Solo Show, Uhl Gallery, Denver, Colorado
1996 Seeing Ourselves, Emmanuel Gallery, Denver, Colorado
1995 (1993-1995) Group Show, Taos Traditions Gallery, Taos, New Mexico
1994 Art Students League Annual Exhibit-Best of Show, Denver, Colorado
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