Opening of Candace Hick’s Exhibition Napoleon’s Wallpaper

Delta State University’s Fielding Wright Art Center’s first exhibition of the year, Candace Hick’s installation Napoleon’s Wallpaper, opens season on Thursday, January 14

Candace Hicks is a printmaker and book artist based in Nacogdoches, TX. The exhibition Napoleon’s Wallpaper treats the gallery as a puzzle box to be solved by the viewer. A combination of prints that reveal secret messages when viewed through special colored glasses, kinetic sculptures that reveal clues, puzzles that can be manipulated physically to reveal hidden compartments, and wall texts that guide the viewer from one station to the next, the exhibition operates like a game. The artist is using her background as a book artist to produce an exhibition of objects that look like art, but are actually part of an interrelated narrative puzzle. Books take for granted that viewer participation is necessary to complete the work, and Napoleon’s Wallpaper combines a storybook, interactive puzzle, and art exhibit into a room-sized installation. The viewer experiences the immersive quality of reading a mystery novel and solving the clues.

The title, Napoleon’s Wallpaper, refers to an anecdote regarding the cause of Napoleon’s death. He supposedly died from exposure to arsenic in the dyes used to print his wallpaper. Hicks once read three accounts of this story in the same week, and felt like she was receiving a secret, albeit meaningless message from the universe. Napoleon’s Wallpaper is like a room-sized book. It tells a story, but it also presents a puzzle game that has to be solved by the visitor/reader. It includes many moving parts that invite interaction. It resurrects forms of spectacle from the past: optical illusions and early animation devices. These forms are employed holistically to present a cohesive story that can only be solved with viewer participation.

Hicks is an Assistant Professor Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas. Napoleon’s Wallpaper has recently been installed in Houston, TX. Hicks’ work has been shown in Rochester, N.Y.; Ashville, N.C.; Decatur, GA; Denver Colorado; New York, N.Y.; Moscow, Soviet Union; Vilnius, Lithuania; Budapest, Hungary; among other places.

Napoleon’s Wallpaper will run from January 14th to February 26th, 2016. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, January 14 from 5:00-7:00 pm. Gallery Hours are Monday through Thursday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The Gallery is closed on weekends, holidays, and during semester breaks.

For further information visit the DSU Art Department’s website at https://www.deltastate.edu/college-of-arts-and-sciences/art/ or contact 662.846.4720. For updates and announcements of upcoming events follow Delta State Art Department on Facebook or join our email list.