ANNIE HECKMAN

Tomorrow is the day! Come visit me in the fourth floor lobby between 12 and 2pm at the MCA to see works on paper and pepper me with questions and opinions. Here’s a Raymond Pettibon piece to draw you in — this is one of eight of his works on view in this exhibit.

Raymond Pettibon -- No Title (To Dust Cover...Shut), 1984 -- Ink on paper -- Sheet: 14 x 10 1/8 in. (35.6 x 25.7 cm); framed: 18 11/16 x 15 (47.5 x 38.1 cm) -- Collection Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, gift of Susan and Lewis Manilow -- Courtesy Regen Projects, Los Angeles-- © 1984 Raymond Pettibon

If you’d like to learn more about Pettibon’s work ahead of time, the Art21 site or his page on David Zwirner’s site are good places to start.

Here are the details in case you’re new to the MCA:

Museum of Contemporary Art –> general visitor information
220 East Chicago Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60611-2643
Google map

————— Friday, June 11, 12-2pm —————>

Perhaps you’re up for an impromptu discussion of the influence of Catholic iconography on Henry Darger’s Vivian Girls epic, or a debate about Mike Kelley’s skewering of the military-industrial complex. Maybe you have a few burning questions about the significance of contemporary drawing as a medium. Or you may just be looking for an opportunity to talk to strangers at museums — here it is! This Friday I’m the featured artist for an informal, drop-in Water Cooler Talk with visitors to the galleries at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

You can find me this Friday, June 11, from 12-2pm in the fourth floor lobby ready to talk about works on paper, flanked by a selection of works from the MCA’s Collection from Laylah Ali, Henry Darger, Peter Saul, Raymond Pettibon (the first time I learned art can be messy), Mike Kelley (second time), Karen Kilimnik, and Öyvind Fahlström. Coming up with ways to talk smart has never been so enjoyable — this is a great group of works.

When I think of water cooler talk I imagine gossip, updates, or information that you need to keep current. So I’m curious: what types of ideas, questions, and arguments have been coming up for you when you visit museums? Drop me a comment or a note, and please join me on Friday!

The third and last drawing staying in Hungary for now. More to come (including animation) after my return to Chicago.

Annie Heckman, The bones crumble later, and so the skeleton remains altogether, the way it was, 2010, graphite, gouache, watercolor pencil, and oil pastel on paper, 9 x 9 inches

The second drawing in a set of three, staying to be exhibited in Hungary:

Annie Heckman, When it is 100 years old it will be exactly like a piece of wood, 2010, graphite, gouache, watercolor pencil, and oil pastel on paper, 9 x 9 inches

The first of three drawings that I’m leaving in Hungary, to be exhibited in 2010:

Annie Heckman, It has a key to everywhere, so it can open the doors, 2010, graphite, gouache, watercolor pencil, and oil pastel on paper 9 x 9 inches

The title is a quotation from Maria Nagy’s study on children’s theories about death.

Annie Heckman, Origination of the fly, 2009, ink on paper, 11 x 14 inches

The third and last drawing is here — Origination of the fly is perhaps the most hopeful in the set, if you garner hope from the image of feasting maggots becoming beautiful, full-grown flies. (They have to eat something, right?) This drawing is accompanying the other two at an exhibit called Drawing in Contemporary Art at The Workshop gallery in Białystok, Poland. The Workshop is the brainchild of Urszula Humienik-Dworakowska, creator of the Art Factory artist residency project in Białystok. She’s a transnational visionary, one whose opinion I particularly appreciate. (When someone sees a drawing of a mouse with maggots and ask for more, I make a special note of it.) The exhibit opens March 27 and runs through April 30, so if you happen to be reading this from the Białystok area, please visit!

Annie Heckman, The mouse I saw yesterday, 2007, ink on paper, 11 x 14 inches

I just sent three small drawings off to an exhibit. They work as a short set, all drawn on that beautiful Aquabee paper that my friend Gisela Insuaste introduced me to almost two years ago. This image is from 2007, the starting point for the Becoming Formless animation and installation.

After all the work I’ve been doing towards completing installation pieces, it was nice to get back to a flat piece of paper and focus in on two-dimensional images for a while. It seems to use a completely different part of my brain; even when the installation work involves drawing, the fact that I’m drawing a piece that’s part of a bigger structure makes the process feel very different. Check back for the next two drawings, both recent pieces from 2009, tomorrow and Saturday.

Spike and the Bunny, Part I, 2005

I just learned from the folks at the F.U.E.L. Collection in Philadelphia that Spike and the Bunny, Part I, an etching purchased from the Puppies are Biodegradable show, was recently donated to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. I’m very pleased, especially since I’m a fan of children’s hospitals ever since Children’s Memorial in Chicago rearranged me properly back in the 80s. Check out the current projects at F.U.E.L here, and check back for updates on the submissions page. It’s an incredible space, a big former bank, and they’ve put together some amazing shows bringing exposure to new and emerging artists.