Ashley Hicks's New Solo Exhibition is Colorful and Quirky, With a Historical Twist
Ashley Hicks has absolutely succeeded in forging an aesthetic for himself, no easy feat considering the weight his family name carries in the design world. His work is provocative, irreverent, optimistic—and more sophisticated than a first glance might imply. Whether you love the eyes-wide-ahead surprise of it or prefer to dwell in the legacy of the father, you have to respect the courage of the son.
A good dose of this sophistication and courage is on view at R & Company, the gallery that has done more to build the market for “art” furniture than almost anyone (think of the baffling but irresistible Haas brothers, the insolence of Katie Stout, and the delightful shapes of Pierre Yovanovitch). This is where they all became collectible.
Here Ashley Hicks has just installed “Manhattan Studiolo,” an environment of furniture and objects inspired by the great intarsia (a form of illusionistic marquetry which really amounts to a language) rooms of the Renaissance. Like him the project is zany, but with immaculate provenance and serious intellectual underpinnings.
Look hard, appreciate the level of craft, and consider the references; Ashley Hicks has been looking at quality all his life. He can be stately when he wants to (there is a resin commode with 18th century presence that David Hicks would have been proud to put it into any room). You know what to do next, right? Go up to the Metropolitan Museum and see the other Manhattan Studiolo, the one made for the Duke of Urbino in 1478.
Only in New York at R& Company, 64 White Street, until October 19.
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