Construction UCLA

Artist: Hicks, David

Date: 2016

Medium: Ceramic and stainless steel

Artwork Dimensions: 30 x 50 x 10 in.

County Department: Health Services

Artwork Site: Olive View-UCLA Medical Center

Supervisorial District: 3

Current Status: On view

About the Artwork: Building upon the Medical Center’s burgeoning art collection, Civic Art program staff initiated an art purchase program. A curatorial approach was crafted to include both existing and commissioned for purchase. Christine Nguyen, David Hicks and Joe Zaldivar were the three artists selected for the art purchase program. David Hicks’ Construction UCLA is a ceramic sculpture commissioned for the First Floor Lobby of the Medical Center. By searching the natural world and studio environments for form, color and texture, Hicks looked for cross over information that exists in both of these worlds. His artwork reflects the formal qualities of the organic world and the catalytic environment of his studio. In his words, "I build to create the history and dynamism of the organic world in my sculpture. This process pushes me into the surface of objects to explore and sculpt surface as a physical aspect of the structure."

About the Artist: David Hicks is an artist living and working in Visalia, CA. Creating work that draws inspiration from natural and agricultural environments, his sculpture examines the formal qualities of organic forms common to the American landscape. Hicks holds a BFA from the California State University in Long Beach and his Master of Fine Arts from Alfred University in New York. Hicks exhibits his work throughout the United States and abroad and is in private and permanent collections in the US and abroad, including the Permanent Collection of the World Ceramic Exhibition Foundation in South Korea, United States Embassy Art Collection and the American Museum of Ceramic Art in Los Angeles California.