Mary Heilmann
Exhibition
Mary Heilmann: Looking at Pictures
8 June – 21 August 2016
The surreal beach life of Los Angeles, 1960s counter culture, pop songs and friendships with New York artists, poets and musicians are the well springs of Mary Heilmann’s dazzling abstractions.
‘Every piece of abstract art that I make has a backstory’. Heilmann (b. 1940) takes colour, line and shape on unexpected journeys. Polka dots waft across eye-popping hues corralled within irregular rectangles. The poetry of her works lies in the tension between the rigours of geometry and the contingencies of the human and the organic.
The Whitechapel Gallery exhibition Looking at Pictures begins with paintings based on the square, the grid and architectural details, such asThe First Vent (1972). They are juxtaposed with glazed ceramics, hovering between painting and sculpture. A slide show, Her Life (2006), features Heilmann’s paintings and personal photographs set to an eclectic mix of music.
Choreographed across the long upper gallery dynamic canvases represent ‘autobiographical markers’ – painterly haikus of the artist’s life. Their vibrancy is matched by their titles – Bush of Ghosts (1980) or Good Vibrations Diptych, Remembering David (2012). Heilmann invites the viewer to become immersed in her synaesthetic stories while sitting in her colourful chairs.
This exhibition is generously supported by The Robert Lehman Foundation and those who wish to remain anonymous.
Events Highlights
In Conversation: Mary Heilmann and Lydia Yee
Thursday 9 June, 10am | £9.50/£7.50 concs
Mary Heilmann leads a tour and discussion of her first UK retrospective with Whitechapel Gallery Chief Curator Lydia Yee. Book Now
Symposium: Painting Study Day
Saturday 18 June, 2pm – 6pm | £12.50/£10.50 concs
This day-long event explores the varied medium of painting and its enduring relevance to artists working today. Book Now
Click here for the full programme of events coinciding with Mary Heilmann: Looking at Pictures.
8 Jun – 21 Aug 2016
Galleries 1, 8 & 9
Monday Closed
Tuesday 11am–6pm
Wednesday 11am–6pm
Thursday 11am–9pm
Friday 11am–6pm
Saturday 11am–6pm
Sunday 11am–6pm