For this year’s iteration of the Armory Show, JDJ is pleased to feature a group of new oil paintings by New York artist Heather Guertin.
Heather Guertin, Bright Shadow, 2023, Oil on canvas, 48 x 40 in
Heather Guertin, Bright Shadow (Detail), 2023, Oil on canvas, 48 x 40 in
Awash in color and texture, Heather Guertin’s intricate oil paintings are derived from images she finds in discarded books. It is the formal quality, rather than the content, that compels her to choose this imagery as inspiration for her paintings.
Heather Guertin, Tessa, 2023, Oil on canvas, 66 x 54 in
Heather Guertin, Light Sleeper, 2023, Oil on canvas, 48 x 40 in
She splices several of the found photographs or illustrations into one composition, visually stitching or blending strips of them together, like an exquisite corpse, rather than cutting out and pasting particular elements from each. Irrational juxtapositions within these collages create strange hybridities.
Heather Guertin, Double Fold, 2023, Oil on canvas, 66 x 54 in
Heather Guertin, Double Fold (Detail), 2023, Oil on canvas, 66 x 54 in
Approaching the act of painting with a sense of openness, Guertin searches for her paintings through the material she comes across. She allows the found imagery to guide the form, color and value in the painting, but her singular vision pushes these fragments into new worlds. The possibilities for Guertin are infinite and the process is dynamic, united by her subjectivity and painterly approach.
Heather Guertin, Mirror Pond, 2023, Oil on canvas, 48 x 40 in
Guertin manipulates the paint in highly textured ways, turning realistic subject matter into abstraction through her brushwork: large, thick swoops of oil paint and tiny raised dots on top of fields of color, a reference to the printing mechanics of the found images.
The resulting works are, in essence, an act of transformation, as she filters the collages through her own painterly vision. Some aspects of the original images are retained, and others take on new forms.
Heather Guertin, Suspended in Sky, 2023, Oil on canvas, 66 x 54 in
Just as Guertin’s painting process is an act of translation, so too is our visual read of her paintings: her abstract compositions convey a sense of recognizability, though not necessarily to the original source.
Heather Guertin, Pale Blue Space, 2023, Oil on canvas, 48 x 40 in
Heather Guertin (b. 1981, Worcester, MA) lives and works in Red Hook, NY. She received her MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Guertin has recently exhibited at JDJ, New York, NY and Garrison, NY, Commonwealth and Council x Galería Agustina Ferreyra, Mexico City, Broadway Gallery, New York, Kurimanzutto, Mexico City, presented with Galería Agustina Ferreyra, Brennan & Griffin, New York, Proyectos Monclova, Mexico City, Flag Art Foundation, New York, Bortolami, New York, and Galería Agustina Ferreyra, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Guertin has performed at White Columns, New York and the Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, PA. Her work was acquired by the JP Morgan Chase Art Collection earlier this year. Guertin’s novella Model Turned Comedian with Social Malpractice and Publication Studio was acquired by the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp in 2013, and her monograph was published by Hassla Books in 2015.
