Mark Hicks, of

Manhattan Beach, California Manhattan Beach is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States, on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast south of El Segundo, California, El Segundo, west of Hawthorne, California, Hawthorne and Redondo Beach, California, Red ...

, was an abstract painter. He was also a quadriplegic, since falling out of a tree at age 12. Hicks was the subject of the 1977 Academy Award-winning documentary short ''

Gravity Is My Enemy ''Gravity Is My Enemy'' is a 1977 American short documentary film about quadriplegic visual artist Mark Hicks, directed by John C. Joseph. It won an Oscar at the 50th Academy Awards The 50th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy ...

'', produced by his art teacher at

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

(UCLA)

Jan Stussy Jan Stussy (1921–1990) was an American artist, film producer, and professor. He was a professor emeritus from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), he taught there for 42 years. He was awarded an Academy Award for the documentary fi ...

, and directed by John C. Joseph. The life and work of Mark Hicks is examined in this documentary, along with a discussion of his being a student at UCLA, culminating with his first gallery show in San Francisco.

References

External links

Gravity Is My Enemy (1977)
at IMDb 1958 births Year of death missing People from Manhattan Beach, California El Camino College alumni University of California, Los Angeles alumni American lithographers People with tetraplegia {{US-painter-stub