2.3 SECONDS – IN THE HERE AND NOW

And so the artist, born in Husum in 1958, who studied under Georg Baselitz at the Berlin University of the Arts between 1979 and 1986, has been painting heads for decades.

References to art history, expressionism and even the wild painting of the 1980s are present.

In the early 20th century, in the work of Egon Schiele or Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, for example, depictions of heads were an expression of the turmoil that characterised the era: the turmoil of the individual in an increasingly industrialised and alienated world. And even today, as Heinig's neo-expressionist painting shows, so much is visible in the human face: the friction between the self and society, isolation, despair, grief, emotional intensity, but also euphoria, warmth and enthusiasm. The whole complexity of the inner world.

It is impossible to escape the gaze of these often large-format heads, painted in oil and gouache, which have been shown at many major exhibitions, including internationally. A communication arises between the viewer and the picture. These heads captivate our gaze – we enter into a dialogue with art.

The artist presents us with magnificent paintings, structures of facial landscapes full of intensity and tension. Vibrant images, some of them highly luminous: testimonies to an art that seeks to penetrate the essence, the existence, the most important things of being human. These heads need no space – and no reference to time: the artist isolates them, fills the canvas with them, creates an autonomous form and thus also an invitation to the viewer.

Heinig's art is completely detached from anything temporal. It is not time that speaks from it, the present, but a timeless, spiritual attitude. One could also say: eternity.

In this painting, the artist tells us about life itself, its mystery, its vulnerability and complexity. Once the paintings are finished, he says, his heads go their own way. They look at us with tremendous power. They speak and sound for themselves. But they also allow for dialogue.

• Vernissage: Saturday, 14 February, 6 p.m.
  
• Opening speech: Dr Kirstin Buchinger
  
• The artist will be present.
  
• Please register at: fv@galeriemond-finearts.com