Cade Tompkins Projects is pleased to present a new body of work by artist Daniel Heyman. The solo exhibition entitled DANIEL HEYMAN: Summer Fall Winter Spring opens on Saturday, September 8th and runs through Saturday, October 27, 2012.
The primary medium for the work in the exhibition is printmaking. Featured in the exhibition are four new self-portraits: three of the self-portraits are etchings on paper. One portrait an etching and woodcut entitled Winter: Artist Engages, employees the non-traditional matrix of plaster. The four works range in sizes from monumental to intimate.
Thematically, each portrait reflects one of the seasons and embodies an interpretation of growth from youth through adulthood, beginning with Summer: Artist Sleeps 2010. This work depicts the artist at rest in a hammock tied among scrub pine trees. His eyes are closed, his face is peaceful, he shuts out the external world. His body is wrapped in a cocoon and only his foot, shin, hand and face are revealed. The print is made from eight cooper plates to form a whole work that measures 48 x 72 inches. The edition size is 5.
Fall: Artist Eats Pho 2011 is the next in the seasonal self-portrait series. Here we view the artist sitting at a table in a Vietnamese restaurant eating noodles from a bowl. The figure is self absorbed in the pleasures at hand and is in stark contrast to the portrait of an Asian man on the lower right. Along the bottom third of the print, we encounter the story of Hung Nguyen and his horrific tale of his early life and voyage to America. In the background, in the upper left we see a classical interpretation of a stormy sea as well as the reflection in the window of the word “Pho” and view to the street. Dense in images that relate to the story, this work is a dramatic return to Heyman’s longstanding interest in human rights and his ability to relate immensely gripping stories of the trials and tribulations of others. This work is a combination of intaglio, aquatint, drypoint, gouache monotype printed on 9 cooper etching plates and measures 52.5 x 70.5 inches. The edition size is 5.
Winter: Artist Engages 2012, is the largest and most ambitious of the four works. Using the startling and unusual materials of etching and woodcut on plaster, this work returns to the monumental scale of an important work entitled When Photographers are Blinded, Eagles Wings are Clipped 2010-2011. Winter: Artist Engages features a double self-portrait with full-frontal intertwined nudes. Reflecting the contradictions and complications of mid-life, the figures have multiple arms and appendages. These figures are inspired by a Japanese 8th century deity viewed on one of Heyman’s many trips to Japan. In the central part of the print, we see a large landscape of trees and to the right a winter scene with a large full moon and an owl with outstretched wings over a barren and white winter forest. The white winter literally illuminated by the use of plaster, a cool white material, dense and heavy like snow. Sculptural in effect this etching and woodcut measures a monumental 84 x 168 inches and is comprised of 70 etching plates. The edition is 5.
The last of the seasons is represented by Spring: Artist Contemplates an Inheritance 2012. The viewer encounters the artist from the back, sitting in a chair in a confined interior space. In his hand, he holds a small Japanese ivory sculpture of three blind men fighting over a wooden sandal. The artist sits motionless, looking, thinking and reflecting. The medium is etching printed on wood veneer. The work measures 32 x 40 inches and is made from copper etching plates. The edition is 8.
