Rachel T Hicks

I am an abstract expressionistic artist based in Downtown Los Angeles. I studied Fine Art at California College of the Arts, receiving my masters and Design at FIDM. I learned the rules in order to break them, after vigorous formal training. I aim to challenge the hypocrisy of the hierarchical and myopic ideals of the fine art world by challenging human assumptions and observations. My work is a daily endeavor of lending both my art and my physicality to the viewer’s gaze. As a “personality artist”, I pull back the curtain on my artistic process and invite the viewer in for a glance at the whole creative process. This creates contrast to the illusory “crazed artist” narrative previously portrayed, nested deeply in the seemingly unapproachable gallery atmosphere I am opposing. 
Working in the realms of painting, illustration, and design, I create textured, large-scale pieces using raw materials not found in typical art stores, but instead, construction projects, excess from factories, along a variety of traditional mediums such as gouache and ink. This evokes elements of spontaneity and industrialism. The art evokes contrast, both visually and conceptually. Being photographed with my art is a vulnerable act, threading my literal im...

Interactive projects:
In edition to being a venerable spotlight as an artist, I am a conduit. I connect people to creativity through a highly unique an interactive “paint party experience” in which I cover a space in canvas, dress the guests in white garments and make live art. The last exhibit displayed at the largest music festival in the world with 500,000 people.  

For more information on that project you can go here:                 
http://www.rthpaintparty.com

On the works displayed “EXCESS” 

It was through my “RTH paint party” experience I gained access to a clothing factory, which at the end of the week a large amount of silk screen paint gets wasted, it becomes a burden on the workers to process the paint and dispose of it. I began using this paint to create my new body of work entitled “excess”  

Here are some photos of me working in that factory 
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5_B7ZGJ_cF/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

With my background in design and fine art, it was natural for me to merge the two. The paintings in my series “excess” where created from the garment factory waste. The material is silk screen paint which has to be processed through industrial heaters and activated with multiple execrators. A...