Went over to P.P.O.W tonight to look at Julie Heffernan’s work and listen to a few woman authors read their writings – it was a nice crowd and I had a good time and I’m glad I went. Still, I did not talk with anyone and most of the crowd that showed up for this show and reading was somewhat different than most I see when gallery hopping in Chelsea.

I liked Julie Heffernan’s paintings -most were large and very well painted.  Honestly, I don’t understand the symbolism she uses and her paintings seem a lot like tapestry – but not really of this age or time.  

Yes, I do see references to our time in her works, but most of her paintings look like they could have been painted 250 years ago in Europe, and they’d have fit right in.   

Personally, I’d not want to paint something that looks like it could have been done but Europeans almost 300 years ago … but that’s just me.  I think Heffernan’s paintings are superb, if you put aside the distinct impression they don’t seem to belong in our time and age. 

But look, perhaps that’s a noble pursuit – to reference French/Flemish Quail painting.  Whatever you personally think of Julie Hefferman’s subjects or their meaning – she’s the total master of her craft – and these painting are delightful, if odd, to look at.

 

JULIE HEFFERNAN Self Portrait as Spill 2007
oil on canvas, 68 x 60 inches

A review done recently by David Cohen of the New York Sun mirrors my own perceptions of these paintings (I highlighted the parts that stand out to me):

“..These dynamic and intriguing compositions pack a punch, but at the same time, they are a slow read with their rich internal lighting, luxurious color, intricate workmanship, and the alluring choice of things of natural beauty — whether flesh or fur — for the viewer to enjoy.
That there is both consistency among the series and individuality to each image encourages a sense that these figures are allegorical. Enigmatic iconography makes the paintings seem surrealist, and they do tap some of the libidinal and oeneric features of that movement, but they have more in common with the kind of paintings collected by Rudolf II in Prague than with Surrealism.
Ms. Heffernan’s sense of self relates to lesser-known female Surrealists such as Dorothea Tanning and Leonara Carrington, but she eschews the faux naïveté of these artists, and more closely resembles Dalí in her virtuosity.”

So.. if there’s anything that people seem to want to say to Julie …. take your wonderful talent and paint life as it is now, you’d find your paintings would be taken less enigmatically, and yet you’d lose none of your individuality.