With a loaded palette knife of impasto, Neil Hicks paints tiered colour bands of sunset and breeze beyond naked trees. Indigenous references to the artist's heritage are subtly infused into texture and meaning; mottled backgrounds and cloaked layers insinuating a narrative beyond the immediately visual.

"When I work I am travelling. The similarities are satisfying enough to continually surprise my sense of discovery.
I begin with no more than a rudimentary map of what I want, and then I begin a journey of arduous intent seasoned with profound moments of joy. Just as a seed will begin simply and become more complex as it grows, so the journey of the painting can evolve and become increasingly intricate. When mapping the painting, I consider the composition and its ability to shift without losing its basic form.
To transpose ideas into actions your every motion can reveal insights to your character. These paintings rely largely on assumption, conjecture and random calculation. I see them as homogeneous paradigms rather than accurate illustrations.

When I paint, these discursive actions become unique and ostensive allegories of my intentions without the tedium of direct observation. My intentions are to discover identifiable configurations within self and place. On occasion, these engaging encounters within elemental parameters are made manifest and the indisputable is temporarily suspended." Neil Hicks 2010

Neil Hicks completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the National Art School in 2000. He has been exhibiting since 1993 in Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast and California. Recently he won the Marymount Art Prize in Queensland.

"Neil Hicks series of paintings is a stylised exploration of trees as a sort of series of landscape portraits. They are more oriental, stylistically, than many Australian artists' gnarly depictions of the tree and Hick's trees are meditative motifs more than realistic landscapes." Phil Brown, The Brisbane News 2007

Solo Exhibitions

2012 Less is More, Red Sea Galleries Brisbane

2011 After the Deluge, Libby Edwards Galleries Melbourne

2010 Paris Sketchbook, Sheffer Gallery Sydney

2008 Fissures, Libby Edwards Galleries Melbourne

2008 Evidence Personelle, Libby Edwards Galleries Melbourne

2007 Elementals, Libby Edwards Galleries Sydney

2007 Recent Works, Libby Edwards Galleries Brisbane

2006 Recent Works, Libby Edwards Galleries Melbourne

2006 Branching Out, Libby Edwards Galleries Brisbane

2005 Snowtrees, Libby Edwards Galleries Sydney

2002 New Works, Global Gallery Sydney

2001 Serendipity, Rocks Resort Gold Coast

Untitled, Arts Café, The Arts Centre Gold Coast

1999 Bums and Beaches, Corporate Art Centre Gold Coast

1994 Aspect America, Monterey Fine Art California
1993 Urban Myth Headonspace Sydney

Group Exhibitions

2012 - Salon des Refuse, S.H.Ervin Gallery; Sydney Art Expo, Hordern Pavillion

2011 - 'Together in Harrmony', Bom Gallery Seoul South Korea

2010 - May Street Studios

2009 - Drawcard, National Art School; Mt Ayre Vineyards Art Prize

2008 - Paddington Art Prize; Pyrmont Art Fair; Drawcard, National Art School
2007 Sotheby’s Art Walk; Artist at the table, National Art School; Pyrmont Art Walk

2006 Art Quake, Tsunami Relief, Stonevilla; Camden Art Prize; Paddington fundraiser; Group show Albury Cellar

2005 Art on the Rocks; Cromwells Art Prize; Dogs Life, A Space Gallery

2004 Waverley Art Prize; Fishers Ghost Art Prize

2003 Affordable Art Show; Alberta St Art Prize; Amnesty International

2002 Marymount Art Prize; Signature Art Prize

2001 Border Art Prize; Life’s a beach Art Prize; Gold Coast Show

2000 Marymount Art Prize; Graduation Exhibition, National Art School

1999 Conrad Jupiters Art Prize; Bundaberg Art Festival

1998 Logan City Art Prize

1997 AFA Group Show Marriott Hotel; Emerging Gold Coast Artists

1996 Brackets and Jam, Sydney

1994 State Street Painters, Santa Barbara; Travellers Art Expo, Washington DC