The sculptures that make up Heinrich are a handful of tabletop bronzes of the highest quality. Stylistically, they are examples of classic New York School sculpture, which is not surprising, since Heinrich has lived in New York City ever since graduating from Cornell University in the '60s.
His sculptures are related to abstract-expressionist painting, but only in a formal sense. The medium is problematic for sculptors who work in bronze, since making bronzes is a precise technical process involving blast furnaces. They can't throw one piece of bronze against another and expect it to stick the way paint does to canvas. Even if it did, the artist would perish in the flames or have badly burnt hands. Abstract expressionism is easier for sculptors who work in ceramics, polyester foam and other materials that are liquefied, or at least malleable, at room temperature, and are therefore subject to gestural manipulations.
"Intuitive Recognition," by Lynn Heitler, painting.
"American Flyer," by Richard Heinrich, bronze sculpture.
Details
Charles Thomas ONeil: Recent Paintings and Richard Heinrich: Recent Bronze Sculpture, through June 10 at Rule Modern and Contemporary Gallery, 111 Broadway, 303-777-9473
Intuition, through May 27 at the William Havu Gallery, 1040 Cherokee Street, 303-893-2360.
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The five sculptures in Heinrich are all similar. The artist has clustered planes, some accented by squatty cylinders expressing connection, which make them look like conventionalized bolt heads. And they have all been finished in the same way, in a version of the time-honored Renaissance brown patina. In this case, the patina is impressively rich and even, having been expertly applied. Every one of the Heinrich bronzes is wonderful, all expressing the same standard of compositional skill and technical achievement. "American Flyer" is typical: A jumbled stack of interlocking planes at the base supports a vertical element, which in turn features a cantilevered piece hanging off and above.
The sculptures look good in relation to the very different yet oddly complementary O'Neil paintings, and they really express that good old modern feeling that so many have come to love.
Abstraction may have been the most significant art movement of the last century, but I think abstract art will be around well into the 21st century. At one hundred years old, it is still constantly changing and, in that way, moving forward. In fact, it may last to the 22nd, because it's hard to imagine anything that could possibly displace it.
There's only one potential fly in the ointment: With virtual art on the Internet, this whole painting and sculpture thing -- abstraction and all -- may be out of business. Fortunately, with things moving as slowly as they do in the art world, I'll be long dead by then.
