originally published on Hyperallergic Weekend Edition, June 15, 2013
Julie Heffernan, “Self Portrait Dressing Wounds” (2012), oil on canvas, 67 x 70 in (all images courtesy the artist and P.P.O.W Gallery, New York)
I met Julie Heffernan this past fall at a party she hosted celebrating the wedding of another painter, and was taken by her, the community of (women) artists who were gathered, and her painting over the dining table. It was the fierceness of the vision that attracted me, and the individuality of her work, which extended into the way she spoke and lived.
In Heffernan’s paintings, more is more: their complexity draws us into a convincing otherworldly world: female figures with vast skirts constructed of fruits and flowers, intricate magical landscapes interwoven with road signs, branches, foliage, and animals. She explores the macro (the lives of women, the environment) by way of the micro.
