Aleph Contemporary

Alistair Hicks is a highly distinguished London-based curator, writer, and art advisor whose career has consistently operated at the critical intersection of sharp visual intelligence and the practicalities of real-world collecting.

For two decades, Hicks served as the Senior Curator at Deutsche Bank, a tenure during which he worked with purchase committees and was instrumental in shaping one of the world’s most substantial corporate art collections. During this time, he developed a particular emphasis on contemporary work on paper and photography.

Beyond his institutional curatorial practice, Hicks is widely recognized as the author of The Global Art Compass (Thames & Hudson). This clear-sighted guide to contemporary art aims to cut through complex "artspeak" and powerfully reconnect audiences with the core function of artworks—emotionally, intellectually, and culturally. His writing spans criticism and commentary for major art and culture titles, and he is frequently valued for his distinctive ability to make ambitious, complex work feel genuinely approachable without ever simplifying its depth.

Hicks has curated internationally, leading major projects devoted to artists such as Paula Rego (featured at the Kestner Gesellschaft in Hanover and the Pera Museum in Istanbul). He also curated the group exhibition Doublethink: Doublevision at the Pera Museum (2017), a show dedicated to exploring how contemporary artists are reassessing our fundamental modes of thinking and seeing.

For Aleph Contemporary, Alistair Hicks has served as a trusted and rigorous curatorial voice. He contributes introductory texts and context that frame an artist’s work with elegance, intellectual momentum, and discipline. His insights have also been featured in Aleph's "To the Point" podcast series.