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Welcome to the Jungle
Harma Heikens
05 May 2011 - 04 Jun 2011
Tuesday to Saturday from 11 till 6 pm
Opening Reception: 05 May 2011 - 6-8PM - 547 west 27th Street #508 - New York
Welcome to the Jungle
The near-life-size sculptures made by dutch sculptress Harma Heikens are often described as "grim" and
"disturbing".
Working within the playful idiom of popular culture and using means of communication derived from the
advertising world, Heikens calls forth apocalyptic visions of a befouled planet whose inhabitants are terrorised
by economic and sexual exploitation. In detailed, live-size scenes, she shows children whose existence seems
to be a desperate struggle for life.
Heikens' arrangements are powerfully thought provoking in their large scale and simplicity. But although her
statements are well articulated, it's not a soapbox stance, neither does she resort to leaving it up to the viewer.
Rather what we make of it is an amalgamation of the artist intentions and our built-in perceptions culled from
our own reference banks.
Her use of the child figure not only playfully toys with the usual bromidic representation of childhood innocence
lost; it does one better. It coaxes an examination of the debasement of our culture, our place in time or how far
we' ve come – or regressed. The once incorruptable Big Eyed, slightly sexualized, and very vunerable child
(popularized by the Kean's)is now sullied by its overuse in entertainment and advertising. Here Heikens turns
the advertising game's most seductive tool back on itself as in "Bladerunner" where a Hummel-like figure bottle
feeds his baby sister with Coca Cola.
At the Witzenhausen Gallery Heikens will show 5 new pieces, including a sculpture of Aileen Wuornos, a
hitchhiking prostitute who killed seven customers in Florida between 1989 and 1990 and was convicted and
sentenced to death for six of the murders She was executed via lethal injection in 2002.
Heikens depicts Aileen Wuornos age thirteen and pregnant, consistent with the facts.
Harma Heikens
05 May 2011 - 04 Jun 2011
Tuesday to Saturday from 11 till 6 pm
Opening Reception: 05 May 2011 - 6-8PM - 547 west 27th Street #508 - New York
Welcome to the Jungle
The near-life-size sculptures made by dutch sculptress Harma Heikens are often described as "grim" and
"disturbing".
Working within the playful idiom of popular culture and using means of communication derived from the
advertising world, Heikens calls forth apocalyptic visions of a befouled planet whose inhabitants are terrorised
by economic and sexual exploitation. In detailed, live-size scenes, she shows children whose existence seems
to be a desperate struggle for life.
Heikens' arrangements are powerfully thought provoking in their large scale and simplicity. But although her
statements are well articulated, it's not a soapbox stance, neither does she resort to leaving it up to the viewer.
Rather what we make of it is an amalgamation of the artist intentions and our built-in perceptions culled from
our own reference banks.
Her use of the child figure not only playfully toys with the usual bromidic representation of childhood innocence
lost; it does one better. It coaxes an examination of the debasement of our culture, our place in time or how far
we' ve come – or regressed. The once incorruptable Big Eyed, slightly sexualized, and very vunerable child
(popularized by the Kean's)is now sullied by its overuse in entertainment and advertising. Here Heikens turns
the advertising game's most seductive tool back on itself as in "Bladerunner" where a Hummel-like figure bottle
feeds his baby sister with Coca Cola.
At the Witzenhausen Gallery Heikens will show 5 new pieces, including a sculpture of Aileen Wuornos, a
hitchhiking prostitute who killed seven customers in Florida between 1989 and 1990 and was convicted and
sentenced to death for six of the murders She was executed via lethal injection in 2002.
Heikens depicts Aileen Wuornos age thirteen and pregnant, consistent with the facts.
| Witzenhausen Gallery 5th floor, suite 508 547 west 27th street Between 10th and 11th avenue New York, NY 10001 t: 212 239 1124 |
