Images as the Symptoms of Painting: The Antitotalitarianism of Mary Heilmann Author(s): Martin Prinzhorn Source: Afterall: A Journal of Art,

Context, and Enquiry, Issue 5 (2002), pp. 46-57 Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of Central Saint Martins College of Art and
Design, University of the Arts London

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on canvas, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H

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Joan of Arc, 54"x30" oil on canvas,

1986

MARY HEILMANN
Martin Prinzhorn Images as the of Painting: Symptoms The Antitotalitarianism Mary Heilmann

of

A good joke about art is indistinguishable from a good work of art. Analytical or artistic ideas and humour have moments of complete identity. This ismost clearly visible when itbecomes impossible tomake a joke about a good work of art because italready is- apart from its many serious facets - a joke about itself. A good joke about art does not simply belittle itsvictims, or maybe better said its targets, but rather it works alongside themwith a sense of playful intelligence and concurrent sympathy.The complex levels of representation of an artworkmerge with the ambiguity of the joke at thismoment and become one. inthis light,it isnot contradictory to stand infront of one ofMary Heilmann's paintingsand simultaneously sense a certain cheekiness, an comment and a painterly, often almost nostalgic, history. The intelligent concept or a programmatic paintingscan never be reduced to a straightforward works that 'stand for solution, nor does the artistseem concerned with isolated themselves' inthemonumental sense of abstractmodernism.When she gave a lecture on her work at an art school in Vienna a few years ago, thewhole Seen a kindof performance.Her slide show mixed up her presentation turned into artistic ideas and biographical DJ mightmix musings inthe same way a swirling a set, interweaving seems clear that the idea differentlevelsand references. It of crossover iscrucial to her approach, not only inconnection to her painting. On firstglance, however, Heilmann's paintings seem to point ina direction.They appear tomove within the traditionof completely different 48

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Blue & White Squares,

50"x40"

oil on canvas,

American abstract painting - a traditionthat understands itself inan almost evolutionary sense as a historical development towards the absolute reductivism of pure autonomous painting. While today such a triumphant seems of almost display strength incomprehensible, the ultimate aim of thismovement was to conquer the summit of painting and modernism. From this summit, the construction of the imagewas supposed to achieve a clear view beyond themere object and its representation. European paintingmostly had an adversive reaction to this attitude and America itremained responded with a returnto the expressive, but in was either perpetuated unresolved and the of abstract largely myth purity or replaced by uncontradictory figurativeapproaches. Even Minimalism, was very influential on Heilmann, was, at least interms of though it no to real alternative Abstract Expressionism. Minimalist paintings painting, were simply not as psychologically chargeable as minimalist sculpture, nor were did they want to be. Factors includingchance and the arbitrary

important inthe paintings as knowing elements working against any artistic intention. The aimwas not only to remove representation from painting but also anything symbolic thatmight enter intothe image through such intentions. As FrankStella said 'I wanted to get the paint out of the can and
the canvas... I tried to keep the paint as good as was it in the can.'

onto

Modernist and minimalist forms and attitudes are already a departure point forHeilmann inher earlyworks from the 70s. Even at this stage though, they 49

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Music

of the Spheres, 29 7/8"x46 1/8',' oil on

canvas, 2001

postmodern paintings.The formalsimilaritiesonly disappear on second glance as what used to be concentration and reduction now becomes only a with the historyofmodernist painting quotation. She does not align herself but instead creates a concurrence between it and the contemporarywhere her access to this history is unlimited.She uses a delicacy ofmeans to alienate themodernist programme and therebyanalyses it at the same time - a tactic thatmakes her one of themost explicit representatives of new, postmodern painting.A small gesture, a visible brushstroke or some drops of distinctiveperceptionwould not paint inplaces where our normal historically create a great distance tomodernism. Such alterations seem to let permit it, the air escape froman overblown, self-assured attitude.Geometric figures lose their weight and use theirnewly discovered lightness to become memories of a modernism already passed intohistory. affectionate

red,yellow and blue stripes into light, dancing curvaceous forms.However, Heilmann's painting is not just about an answer tomodernist (or minimalist) abstraction. Itcannot be about flexingalternativepainterly muscles because she almost excessively re-uses the traditional abstract vocabulary and she does not disclaim modernist means and quotations inher potentially

never remain untouched and are deconstructed eclectically and robbed of their The titleof her colleague Phillip Taaffe's masculine-mythical narrative. We Are Not Afraid could be a statement about herwork ingeneral painting with a work made inthe 80s transforming Barnett Newman's as, for instance,

Even the sculptures made inthe late 60s cannot be pinned down to any particular formal language. They carry remnants of geometric organisation 50

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but at the same time they are organisms that seem to grow out of the gallery minimalist sculpture to space they have alreadymade the transitionfrom on in 70s takes installation. Her abstract painting the unexpected forms and a colours and theircombinations point of content straightaway. The layering towards a Pop Art that isnot taken up by the restof the painting and does not correspond to our firstimpressionof a geo-like organisation of the space. This organisation again contradicts the small painterlydetails like drips and to that would refer the of loose brushstrokes materiality the image normally from all these factors are and the artist's subjective gestures. Independent a seem consist mixture to of of art-historical the titlesof theworks that If extend outside their references and personal discoveries. the paintings so do in the that not FrankStella, way especially rectangularshape they do content and of the to have used the form for instance, support might shape a as of elements. trivial extensions Instead, they appear given painting's structure,or just another level fornew and randomlyplayfulcombinations.

There are many examples innon-representational painting of artistswho examine specific aspects of visual perception such as edge detection, structure, colour or three dimensionality.This kindof restriction is impossible to find inHeilmann's painting and would contradict herwhole philosophy of concurrence and opposition. Inhermixture of independent visual aspects, she is able to create tensions that not only refuse to

correspond to the visual memory of non-representational modernist painting but also turn thewhole visual order upside down as defined by certain functional rules and a reductionist logic.Yet again however, ithas to be underlined that she uses this strategy inorder to keep thingsmoving, herwhole approach rejecting the idea of a possible finalstage.

Returning to her early acrylic paintings,we see that they have a watercolour-like quality,more reminiscent of landscape than geometric squares. Itfirstbecomes apparent here how stronglymotifs likethese geometric shapes are coded within art and how their ideology is tightly bound to formalconditions. Geometry is clearly something artificialand artistic that defines itself with clear lines, whereby even only slight variations incolour can introduce new rules forcomposition and set itself apart fromold practices still rooted inthe natural and representational. Certainly Heilmann resists this kind of logicof geometry but rather than attempt to create new spaces and alternatives, she appears to follow the old canon while departing from itby accumulating ineach work small,
almost unnoticeable, Heilmann's contradictory brand of details.

Mary

call for the end of history but continues towrite a different,non evolutionary story that takes pleasure inplaying and mixing. Her paintings are traces of painting's past and allow us to establish a necessary analytical distance to this past as a historicallydirected process without actually losingcontact with it.Heilmann's painting does not get stuck in itsanalytic commentary nor does itpersist only as a speculative theoretical attitude. Her paintings always reveal a space where painterly surprises, personal
and emotions can co-exist. While an overwhelming desire to

'postmodernist-affirming

modernism'

does

not

memories

control each corner of the painting isoften present within geometrical painting,Mary Heilmann's casual approach allows an openness thatmakes this strivingforsecurity looksomehow ridiculous. Before something can which collapse inthe top corner, the artist has already found a new rhythm lets the collapse appear simply as the beginning of the next step. Mary Heilmann once said that she stopped making the sculpture thatmarked was too dominated the beginning of her career because inthe 70s this field men. statement not This is without Even today,painting isa by strong irony. still terrain that deals with male strongman acts, although they predominantly now on a level. Yet take may place metaphorical Mary Heilmann did not as a female. Far from it, kind that be of could described the develop painting as she is the one female American painterwho has freed themedium of its with affectioncombined with a arrogantmasculine character by embracing it same at criticism and wit all time. the sharp deadly 51

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Neo Noir, 190.8x153cm, oil on canvas,

1998 52

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Photograph of Mary Heilmann's house Photo: Mary Heilmann

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Installation view Galerie Hauser& Wirth, Zurich: Side Snow Bob, 127x102cm, oil on ;,:;.:,_? canvas, 2001; Music from the Big Pink, . 128x101.5cm, oil on canvas, 2001; Green Cirque, 61 x46cm, oil on canvas, 2000

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Pacific Ocean,

3 parts, each

137.8x91.5cm, oil

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