Richard Heinsohn | Recent Works

RICHARD

HEINSOHN “Time Frames”

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HEINSOHN

RICHARD HEINSOHN

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BILL LOWE GALLERY For three decades, Bill Lowe Gallery has served as a portal to global visual culture for art enthusiasts around the world. Our unique juxtaposition of style and substance is articulated in exhibitions that embrace universal and eternal considerations with great visual drama. This has earned the gallery recognition as a sanctuary for the cross-cultural intersection of beauty and meaning.

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NASHVILLE PAINTER EXPLORES CRISIS AND TIME

by Melinda Baker Concepts of time, moments of crisis and the resilience of the human condition converge in local artist Richard Heinsohn’s new exhibition, “Critical Conditions,” on view at East Side Project Space, Red Arrow Gallery’s collaborative satellite space.

Heinsohn’s colorful, dynamic paintings synthesize abstract expressionism, surrealism and conceptualism, and draw inspiration from artists like Goya, Rauschenberg and Duchamp to convey a singular astuteness, both aesthetically and conceptually, that grounds his work firmly in the contemporary.

Heinsohn spoke with The Tennessean over email about his new exhibition, on view at ESPS through April 30.

“Critical Conditions” is part of a larger series, “Time Frames,” which explores the different ways we perceive time. What inspired you to explore this subject matter with painting?

My mind has always gravitated toward the unknowable and the otherworldly, even as a child. When Brian Greene, noted quantum physicist, raised the question in an interview — ”What is time?” — it was an answer to the question of what he found to be the most elusive element of his research. This brought it all home for me somehow.

Painting as a process has many avenues. To some artists, layers (of paint) are a means to an end. They provide depth or pictorial space. To others, myself included, layers conjure associations with events of geological or cosmological proportion or with the notion of parallel dimensions.

Painting as a history has dealt with time since cave paintings. More recently, Dali’s famous “ The Persistence of Memory” ... speaks to time’s fluid quality and it’s relationship to growth and mortality.

No Explanation 259 Enhanced Acrylic Polymer on Panel 22 x 30 inches

Change Approaches The Blue Dot Enhanced Acrylic Polymer on Panel 72 x 80 inches | 2010

The backdrops of these paintings are photographs of various film scenes that often capture moments of panic, fear and crisis. Why? The processes of film having been digitized, transmitted through cable networks, shot in still format, then processed with my computer all added up to this layer-cake of vignettes. Add to all that the digital distortion caused by (my living room) lamp flaring off of the screen and I felt as if I were looking through a complex woven fabric. The concept of looking through time went off like a neon alarm in my brain.

(And) the tension necessary for the photos to be effective once painted over comes from images that capture ... dire circumstance.

Your painting style is marked by lots of color and “craters” of paint. How did this develop?

I have done many things with paint, but when this came about in New York in 1987, I was a broke bartender living in a run-down loft on 17th Street in Manhattan. I knew immediately that I had found something really connected to my view of life.

Transformation is both destruction and creation. A crater is known for that. … They point directly to the fragility and ephemerality of life.

Color is an intensely complicated phenomenon, which affects mood by directly accessing the subconscious. … Color does not, however, influence the way I explore subject matter. … I employ color to convey and temper the emotional impact of contemplative and existentially oriented works.

Your creative process is very intuitive, but it also seems highly intellectual.

How do you balance thinking and intuition?

I’m no philosopher, but I love that Martin Heidegger wrote in his book, “Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics,” “Knowledge is primarily intuition.” To know something, it must be internalized. If you have to think about it, you don’t fully understand it. So I have spent half a lifetime thinking and learning, and although I still feel like an ignorant child most of the time, I can draw intuitively on what I have internalized.

What impact do you hope your show has on viewers?

Empathy and contemplation are essential goals of this work, as are indications of how dangerous our world can be and what consequences arise from inaction.

These pictures point to human resilience through tragedy and crisis in our time and in our past while providing the wider context of all time.

-THE TENNESSEAN, 2017

We Are All Individuals Enhanced Acrylic Polymer on Panel 64 x 80 inches

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Trouble Acrylic Polymer on Vinyl on Aluminum 36 x 60 inches

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RICHARD HEINSOHN

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“To an artist mystery is key. We have the ability to transform, to take the microscopic to the telescopic.”

RICHARD HEINSOHN

The Epic Instant Acrylic Polymer on Vinyl on Aluminum 52 x 68 inches

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My work has evolved through a number of periods which have all come from a place of empathy, a reflection on our world and a fascination with the myriad of unknown and unexplained phenomena surrounding us.

These recent paintings invite viewers to participate in the formulation of perceived images. I call this work RelationalAbstraction because the nature of the abstract forms and spaces allows viewers to employ their imaginations and make associations particular to their own psyches. Such were the ambitions of Gordon Onslow Ford, Wolfgang Paalen, Roberto Matta and others working as abstract surrealists in the period between 1939 and 1945.

This work is a twenty first century continuum of abstract surrealism and builds on the notion that art can only enlighten society if it elevates consciousness by stimulating the imagination. Amidst the morass of upheaval, disaster and uncertainty we now experience globally, to address humanity’s tendency towards materialism, divisiveness and disillusionment by psychic stimulus seems far more plausible than choosing subject matter from among the many symptoms of its decline. Today’s high speed distribution of information and misinformation greatly impairs our collective ability to think critically and respond with sensitivity to injustice and calamity.

-Richard Heinsohn

Transference Acrylic Polymer on Vinyl on Aluminum 55.5 x 61.5 inches | Circa 1988

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China Town Acrylic Polymer on Vinyl on Aluminum 60 x 84 inches

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Art that functions as a platform for imaginative discovery can play a significant role in encouraging viewers to embrace empathy as well as creative and critical thinking. The more we consider the vastness of unknown realities, the more we perceive ourselves as one unified world.

For a painting to be art it must organically convey sensations of enigma and elements of discovery. To create these experiences within the paintings, I employ a predominantly intuitive and gestural approach, yielding to internal impulses while maintaining a concentration which bypasses cognition. The more inadvertent or incidental the abstract elements are, the more surprising and invigorating to the viewers’ imaginations when specific images do become manifest. It is this delicate and teetering balance between form and field, between animated entities and mere configurations of color, form and space, that allows viewers to complete the context by deriving content in their own minds.

As paintings that invite the viewers in to make personalized discoveries, many interpretations on various levels can co-exist and contribute to the shared art experience.e ability to think critically and respond with sensitivity to injustice and calamity.

-Richard Heinsohn

Invasion of the Primaries Acrylic Polymer and Gel on Panel 64 x 80 inches

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Pelligroso Acrylic Polymer on Vinyl on Aluminum 60 x 84 inches

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After Hours Acrylic Polymer on Vinyl on Aluminum 48 x 72 inches

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Masquerade Pt. 3 Acrylic Polymer on Vinyl on Aluminum 60 x 84 inches

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“TIME FRAMES” (PHOTO-PAINTINGS) Over-painting photographs began in the 19th century and has long been among the myriad of artistic practices which have evolved since the First World War. In this recent body of work, Time Frames, the emphasis is on what how the integration of paint and photography can greatly alter and enhance the context of the visual narrative.

The layers begin in the photos, where some reflection and distortion have been included as part of the photographic process in order to emphasize the fabric-like nature of time and existence as well as the inevitable blur of most of our memories.

The thickly applied paint conjures notions of lava or a molten substance of a cosmic nature, therefore alluding to a more cosmological time frame and providing considerable perspective into the nature of what we call “Time”. The paint also re-structures the composition to convey a sensation of movement while partially abstracting the image and thereby providing the element of discovery in the work.

-Richard Heinsohn 2019

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Found It! Acrylic Polymer on Vinyl on Aluminum 36 x 60 inches | 2016

RICHARD HEINSOHN

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The Blue Door Acrylic Polymer on Vinyl on Aluminum 33 x 60 inches

High Anxiety Acrylic Polymer on Vinyl on Aluminum 58 x 84 inches | 2018

Ascending Acrylic Polymer on Vinyl on Aluminum 48 x 72 inches | 2018

Ascending Acrylic Polymer on Vinyl on Aluminum 48 x 72 inches | 2018

The Information Acrylic Polymer on Vinyl on Aluminum 33 x 60 inches | 2018

Countdown Acrylic Polymer on Vinyl on Aluminum 36 x 60 inches

Art World Acrylic Polymer on Vinyl on Aluminum 36 x 60 inches

The Visitor Acrylic Polymer on Vinyl on Aluminum 60 x 84 inches

He’s Behind You Acrylic Polymer on Vinyl on Aluminum 58 x 84 inches

Time Stops For The Poor Acrylic Polymer on Vinyl on Aluminum 48 x 72 inches

Masquerade Acrylic Polymer on Vinyl on Aluminum 36 x 60 inches

Connected Acrylic Polymer on Vinyl on Aluminum 58 x 84 inches

They’re Coming Acrylic Polymer on Vinyl on Aluminum 48 x 72 inches

Masquerade Pt. 2 Acrylic Polymer on Vinyl on Aluminum 60 x 80 inches

EDUCATION 1984 B.F.A. Painting and Drawing; University of Georgia, Athens, GA 1979 The McCallie School, Chattanooga, TN

No Explanation 714 Enhanced Acrylic Polymer on Panel 60 x 80 inches

CRITICAL REVIEW

“Heinsohn’s colorful, dynamic paintings synthesize abstract expressionism, surrealism and conceptualism, and draw inspiration from artists like Goya, Rauschenberg and Duchamp to convey a singular astuteness, both aesthetically a Melinda Baker , FOR USA TODAY NETWORK – TENNESSEE

and conceptually, that grounds his work firmly in the contemporary.�

EXHIBITION HISTORY 2018 BLOOM: Color, Caress & Seduction Group Exhibition, Bill Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, GA Watkins College of Art Design and Film, Nashville, TN (Group Show) 2017 Red Arrow Gallery/ ESPS, Nashville Tennessee, Time Frames/ Critical Conditions 2016 Bill Lowe Gallery, The New Exuberance, Atlanta, GA Watkins College of Art pop up group show, Nashville, TN 2014 Bill Lowe Gallery, No Explanation, Atlanta, GA Times Square megatron projection, New York City Bill Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia “Zigzag Signified” Barton Fine Arts Gallery, Martin College, Pulaski, TN 2013 Landfill Art Project , Watts Bar, PA Long Island City skyscraper projection, New York City The Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, GA 2012 The Lowe Gallery , Atlanta, GA “Postcards to The Future” The Nashville Arts&Business Council, Nashville TN The Exchange Project , curated by Heather Sparks, San Francisco, CA 2011 The Lowe Gallery, Atlanta GA 2010 Preston Contemporary Art Center, New Mexico The Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, GA 2009 Studio 83, Nashville, TN 2008 Allan Stone Gallery, New York City 2007 Estel Gallery, Nashville, TN Take 121 Fine Art, Nashville, TN

2001 The Lunatarium, New York City 2000 Gayle Gates Gallery, New York City 1995 Allan Stone Gallery, New York City 1994 Allan Stone Gallery, New York City 1993 Allan Stone Gallery, New York City 1992 Allan Stone Gallery, New York City 1991 Bullot Fine Art, New York City 1991 Allan Stone Gallery, New York City 1990 Bullot Fine Art, New York City 1989 Rakel, New York City 1984 The Courtyard Gallery, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 1979 The Hunter Museum, McCallie School, Chattanooga, TN

COLLECTIONS Museo Roberto Polo, Centro de Arte Moderno y Contemporáneo de Castilla-La Mancha, Cuenca Spain Allan Stone, Allan Stone Gallery, New York City Reeves and Yeats, New York City Cannon Studios, New York City Montgomery Securities, New York City The Worsham Group, Knoxville, TN COMMISSIONS Rakel, New York City Niesing Corporation, New York City Reeves and Yeats, New York City James Buckner, Inc., Clearwater, Florida

PUBLICATIONS AND LECTURES 2017 USA Today The Tennessean, Critical Conditions (Review/interview) 2016 Nashville Arts Magazine, “Time Frames” Artsocket Magazine, “Time Frames” 2014 Martin M. College Guest lecture, “Zigzag Signified” 2010 Martin M. College Guest lecture, Re-contextualizing Abstraction Nashville Arts Magazine Preston Contemporary Art Center , Artist talk and Q & A 2009 Frist Center For Visual Arts, American Painting of The Phillips Collection 1992 Pratt Institute Guest Lecture, “Materials and Concept” 1991 Pratt Institute Guest Lecture, “Process” (painting with epoxy resin)

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