Since the cave painters, artists have been responding to natural forms. Why has this inspiration been so persistent? One easy explanation is that nature is all around us. But another would be how
malleable this approach can be, ranging from photographic representations to
completely abstract work, with every incremental in between.
Two solos interpreting
nature are now on view at Michael Warren Contemporary. Denver artist Heidi Jung fills the
entire set of front spaces with signature compositions in the elegant New Work by Heidi Jung. Born and raised in the foothills, Jung was intrigued early on by the natural environment around her
home. At college in Denver, she began her studies as a photographer but
switched to a focus on drawing. That was a little over twenty years ago, but
interestingly, you can still see the photographic aesthetic in her drawings
today. To a limited extent, they're reminiscent of photographs — in particular
pinhole photos, because of their often murky grounds as well as the illusions
of transparency in places.
Jung spent the better part of a year creating this new body
of work, sparked by a visit to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London back in January. The drawings are
mostly oversized renderings of plants and flowers done in sumi ink and charcoal
on sheets of Mylar laid flat on wooden panels, and fixed with an inviable
sealant. This approach to presentation is markedly different from the typical
way that drawings are shown, which is behind glass and framed; the unorthodox
tactic allows Jung’s drawings to function as substitutes for painting, seen
unframed and without glass.
Michael Paglia | October 2, 2019 | 8:15am