JESSE HICKMAN: THE COUNTY SERIES
The big pieces are composed of rectangular walnut panels of irregular lengths, joined by dowels to form the shapes of the counties they’re named for. Each work is painted with pigmented gesso and selectively burned to achieve a simple pattern of stripes–the burned black areas alternate with the areas of colored gesso remaining. Because Hickman controlled the burning by laying lengths of wet rope across the gessoed surface, each stripe is separated from its neighbor by a narrow, softened parallel line with tiny blisters.
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Christian could also point the way to a kind of thematic development. In the rest of “The County Series,” Hickman has paired a handful of county names with their corresponding geographical shapes but gone no further. Some of these names, however–like Christian and Defiance–are loaded with meaning. Hickman might profitably have asked: what is the relationship between the titles of these pieces and the arrangements of colored stripes they present? By making names, shapes, colors, and materials interact with the county theme, the artist might have generated some really fascinating discussion.
