Allegory Art Collective will present “The Pieces That Make Us Whole,” the debut solo exhibition of Charleston-based painter and muralist Nysa Hicks Puig. The exhibition opens with a public reception Friday, Oct. 23, from 4:30-7:30 p.m. at Allegory Art Collective, 2111 Heriot St. It will remain on view through Nov. 27.
In this body of work, Hicks Puig treats identity as additive. Each person we love, each place we live and each experience we carry becomes a permanent part of who we are.
“There is no removal,” she writes. “No less than.”
Her process begins with blind contour drawing, a technique in which the artist traces a subject without looking down at the page. The resulting figures drift, stretch and fracture: eyes set off to one side, limbs at unexpected lengths and features missing entirely.
Hicks Puig builds over these initial drawings using layered color and intuitive mark-making. She keeps the distortions rather than correcting them, allowing the accidents to become an intentional part of the finished piece.
“The lenses through which we see,” Hicks Puig writes, “become a stained glass of our lives.”
The comparison runs through the paintings in “The Pieces That Make Us Whole,” with their layered color and fractured forms. Everything we experience in life shapes, and often tints, how we perceive the world around us. In her view, the imperfect pieces of our lives add up to an obra maestra — a life’s masterpiece.
“Good,” she writes of her off-kilter figures. “I like us that way.”
“The Pieces That Make Us Whole” presents new mixed-media works on raw textiles, wood panel and paper. Pieces from the exhibition are available for purchase online and by appointment at Allegory Art Collective.
About the Artist
Nysa Hicks Puig is an emerging Puerto Rican American painter and muralist based in Charleston. Through her studio, Nysa Creative, she produces custom murals, hand-painted signage and original and commissioned paintings.
Her abstract works explore identity and emotion through composition and texture. She pays close attention to how pigment interacts with material and light, working at the intersection of structure and surrender.
Hicks Puig was recently a Lightning Resident at Redux Contemporary Art Center, and her murals and paintings are held in private and public collections across the United States and Caribbean. “The Pieces That Make Us Whole” is her first solo exhibition.
About Allegory Art Collective
Allegory Art Collective is a curated showroom and exhibition program in Charleston representing working artists. It was founded by arts administrator Cara Alford, former executive director of Redux Contemporary Art Center.
The collective connects collectors with original work through in-person exhibitions and an online gallery.
Exhibition Details
- What: “The Pieces That Make Us Whole,” a solo exhibition by Nysa Hicks Puig
- Opening reception: Friday, Oct. 23, from 4:30-7:30 p.m.
- On view: Oct. 23-Nov. 27
- Location: Allegory Art Collective, 2111 Heriot St., Charleston
- Hours: By appointment; collection available online
- Admission: Free and open to the public