Pace Prints is pleased to present an exhibition of new work by Daniel Heidkamp, on view November 13—December 24, 2015 at Pace Prints, 521 West 26th Street. This is Heidkamp’s first solo exhibition with Pace Prints. An opening reception will be held at the gallery on Thursday, November 12, 6-8pm.
In Heidkamp’s new series of unique paper pulp paintings, created at the Pace Paper studio in Brooklyn, the artist depicts wooded groves, seascapes, interiors, houses nestled in foliage on rolling hills, and boats skimming across frothy shores in playful hues. His monoprints are based on drawings and paintings he created during two summer stays in Cape Ann, along the coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts.
The printmaking process begins with Heidkamp’s plein air paintings made in Gloucester. Stencils are then created from elements in those paintings—specifically boats, trees and houses—to be used in the pulp painting process. Heidkamp rearranges these elements in the studio, and amid large passages of free hand painting, he creates iterations on the original observation, conceiving new compositions and touching on the subjectivity of memory.
Working from observation among panoramic views of Ipswich Bay, the artist pays homage to the long history of painters who have worked in Gloucester. Among the artists who have found inspiration in the area’s lush landscape are Winslow Homer, who painted there throughout his life and lived in a local lighthouse; Edward Hopper, who worked out of the fishing village in the 1920s; as well as Marsden Hartley, Stuart Davis, Mark Rothko, and Milton Avery. Heidkamp’s personal memories of nighttime bonfires and childhood retreats to an abandoned convent near Wingaersheek Beach serve as psychic backdrop for the series of “from life” painting that serve as the source material for the artist’s first project with Pace Prints.
