Sotheby’s Photographs is delighted to partner with Erik Madigan Heck on the debut exhibition of works from his latest monograph, The Tapestry. It has been a pleasure to collaborate with the artist on bringing exquisite images from the pages of his new book onto the walls of our New Bond Street galleries. The selling exhibition will include twenty-one photographs, six paintings, and a mural-sized tapestry.
An exploration of colour and form, The Tapestry originated during a time of deep reflection and evolution for the artist. Inspired by historic tapestries as well as Impressionist and Contemporary paintings, Heck re-examined past imagery by re-colouring, cropping, and re-imagining his own photographs. Relentlessly creative, Heck used the pause of the global pandemic as a contemplative moment to revisit more than a decade of his work as an artist:
“Old tapestries and figurative oil paintings provide me with a huge source of inspiration, and pushed me beyond photography into other artistic media. Most of my favourite artists paint from photographs, and I realized this whole time I’ve tried to do the opposite— make paintings out of photographs. So, for some of these works, I wanted to explore that idea in greater depth, through photographing details of historic paintings, re-colouring them, printing the results on canvas, and painting over them. I’m still tethered to photography, but this is an attempt to move beyond just photography.”
Heck's photographic oeuvre has always been deeply inspired and informed by his passion for painting, in large part because of his mother. A painter herself, she introduced him to the great masters of the medium at a young age by visiting local museums weekly and encouraging him to paint when he was home from school. Alluringly elegant and brazenly vivid, Erik’s latest work explores the intersection of landscape, fashion, still life, portraiture, and abstraction.
Sotheby’s is thrilled to continue its long-standing partnership with Erik Madigan Heck, whose work from his 2017 monograph Old Future we presented in a solo exhibition that year. Also in 2017, Heck partnered with Sotheby’s Diamonds, showcasing their most beautiful creations in a series of stunning photographs. The artist has returned to Sotheby’s many times since to work on various collaborations.
