Top: Blue Chip Stamp Girl, 1965, Figure/Underwear, 1965, #13-4 from Are you Rhea series,1967
Middle: #22-4 (My son and I) from Are you Rhea series, 1966, Studies #37, 1970, Untitled (63-A-34), 1970
Bottom: PP/Two Women-H, 1990, PP Surrealism AA The Sweet Smell of Sex, 1990, PP/Surrealism - 8, 1990
‘The photograph is not a picture of, but an object about something.’
Robert Heinecken
Since the 1960s, Robert Heinecken has cleverly challenged notions of sexuality, gender identity and economic status, among other pertinent socio-cultural issues. By drawing attention to the constructed nature of imagery, be it through his photo-grids, appropriation of magazine images or television freeze frames, Heinecken has shone a spotlight on the building blocks upholding generally accepted assumptions about the self. In this respect, Heinecken considered himself a ‘para-photographer’, his work transcending the traditional photographic conventions.
The lots offered here exemplify Heinecken’s playful experimentations with mass media. Both lots 22 and 23 examine imagery on television. T.V. Network Newswomen Corresponding (lot 22), comprising TV freeze-frame telecasts of Barbara Walters and Faith Daniels, is his tongue-in-cheek search for the perfect anchorwoman. Pairing the two women, he makes Walters and Daniels seem interchangeable and highlights the media’s attempts to make the news palatable to the largest audience. Lot 24, a selection of nine works from 1965-1990, including prints from Are You Rea, highlights his various photographic methods, as well as how he challenged the conventions of photography. Through these constructed images Heinecken questions the inherent truths in photography and the moving image.