Richard Heinsohn -- Artist Statement
Artist Statement
My work is rooted in expressing existential meditations through abstraction. The nature of my art is relational as opposed to demonstrative, inviting the viewer to participate in explication, and in so doing, decentering authorial intentionality. My mind dwells upon the confounding mysteries of temporality as part of the modern sublime, and these concerns drive my imagery into being. Although my focus comes from an existential place, I defer to the inferential capacity of the viewer to engage and speculate on meaning because I’m convinced that the best art experience includes some level of mystery and some sense of discovery. I often approach the human story through the lens of deep time and do this across a range of disciplines including abstract painting, wall reliefs, overpainted photos, sculpture and video.
Much of my work alludes to the climate destruction brought about by unregulated capitalism which has proven to be an explosive catalyst for inequity, political instability, extremism and multiple forms of social injustice. While responding to our complicated place in time as a civilization in turmoil, I also embrace above all else the value of an enigmatic art experience, a psychic journey, a moment of exploration for the mind.
Time has long been a point of fascination for me and shows up in various works. Working with rocks, which I regard as time capsules, provides a means for me to speak of deep time as I include them in various works. I also use parallel lines and stripes to reference geological time, inviting the observation that each striation in a geological formation represents millions of years. The circles in my paintings embody the wheel of time as observed by the Vedanta and other ancient belief systems that see time as cyclical rather than linear. These and other temporal associations convey how deep time provides us the perspective to see our own proportionally minuscule place in time and therefore to comprehend our collective vulnerability.
I’m consistently drawn to observing the macro in the micro. I see grids in tree bark and cosmic imagery in rock formations. The thrill that comes from examining these intriguing parallels provides a form of transcendence. Through abstract means, I visually celebrate unknowing as a reservoir for personal growth. I embrace notions of the sublime and the otherworldly as resources for our imaginations to transcend day-to-day routine, to stimulate the psyche. My intention is to elevate the perception of our collective place in space and time so we can see our shared concerns as humanity and behave accordingly, so we might perceive the associations of causation and consequence through time. I believe that art that matters in the future will be that which promotes the expansion of consciousness, the inevitable course of cerebral evolution and higher understanding.