Hickey draws attention to the daily rituals of the washing, brushing, preparing, and cleaning we undertake in the domestic bathroom setting through his distinct technique of painting with plastic.

Hickey’s tool, the 3D Pen, melts colored filament out of a nozzle. As the plastic cools, it solidifies leaving hardened “brush strokes” that appear to stay in a semi liquid state. Through a myriad of techniques, Hickey uses the pen to paint against a canvas surface or even in thin air to create hollow sculptural works with painterly mark making.

Hickey’s use of color in this installation tricks the eye from afar and allows each object to reveal itself as the viewer approaches. What at first glance is a tube of toothpaste becomes strands of plastic flowing together line by line, accentuating the repetitive motion used to create each object. The rhythmic marks that form Hickey’s sculptures and paintings take on a unique meaning in the domestic bathroom setting. This repetition goes hand in hand with the daily rituals of cleaning and maintaining the body that take place in this sacred yet common space.