Ellen Heck 2025

In this exhibition, both figurative and abstract works explore a panorama of perspectives. Life-size monochromatic aquatint portraits of children in the process of having their faces painted hone in on varying expressions of almost religious deliverance at known and unknown hands holding tools of transformation. In this series of varied editions, Being Painted, each child's face is individually painted in different familiar motifs. Of these, the show features masked adventurers, clowns, and starry-eyed dreamers. Heck is interested in the variety of expressions and levels of self-consciousness of children being painted, and conversely, the focus and lack of self-consciousness of children who are painting themselves.

posted on 1/8/2025