Preface by Claudia Gould. Text by Jenelle Porter. Interview by Kaja Silverman.
Charline von Heyl (born 1960) synthesizes elements of Cubism, Abstract Expressionism and the brasher imagery of popular culture in a fascinating brand of abstraction that seems eternally poised on the lip of figuration. Resolutely devoted to energetic gesture and joyous expression, von Heyl also aspires to create images that declare an enigmatic self-sufficiency: “What I’m trying to do is to create an image that has the iconic value of a sign but remains ambiguous in its meaning,” she told Bomb magazine in a 2010 interview. “Something that feels like a representation but isn’t.” In the spirit of von Heyl’s work, this volume--published for the artist’s first U.S. museum survey-- attempts to break free of the conventions of the museum catalogue, with an artist-designed cover and poster-sized reproductions of each of the 18 paintings included in the show.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Time Out New York
Jennifer Coates
In Von Heyl's work, a single painting can contain the history of painting, just as each human being retains various selves over the course of lifetime. Yet she dramatizes this sense of the unfixed within a fixed sense of order. Her canvases may journey from megalithic substantiality to rudimentary marks, from colliding patterns and color to near-empty fields of dissipating lines, but each composition is assembled with an eye toward both decisiveness and contingency.
FORMAT: Pbk, 9.5 x 10 in. / 90 pgs / 18 color / 45 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $40.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $54 GBP £35.00 ISBN: 9780884541226 PUBLISHER: Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania AVAILABLE: 1/31/2012 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: WORLD
Published by Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania. Preface by Claudia Gould. Text by Jenelle Porter. Interview by Kaja Silverman.
Charline von Heyl (born 1960) synthesizes elements of Cubism, Abstract Expressionism and the brasher imagery of popular culture in a fascinating brand of abstraction that seems eternally poised on the lip of figuration. Resolutely devoted to energetic gesture and joyous expression, von Heyl also aspires to create images that declare an enigmatic self-sufficiency: “What I’m trying to do is to create an image that has the iconic value of a sign but remains ambiguous in its meaning,” she told Bomb magazine in a 2010 interview. “Something that feels like a representation but isn’t.” In the spirit of von Heyl’s work, this volume--published for the artist’s first U.S. museum survey-- attempts to break free of the conventions of the museum catalogue, with an artist-designed cover and poster-sized reproductions of each of the 18 paintings included in the show.
