Robert Heinecken: Object Matter
March 15–September 7, 2014The Museum of Modern Art
This is the first retrospective of the groundbreaking work of Robert Heinecken since his death in 2006. Heinecken dedicated his life to making art and teaching, establishing the photography program at UCLA in 1964 and serving as a professor there until 1991. He came of age artistically in 1960s Los Angeles, where the burgeoning art scene and proximity to Hollywood provided fertile ground for experimentation. In this environment Heinecken—alongside peers making Pop art and Conceptual art—pushed the boundaries between mediums and between high and popular culture.
This exhibition gathers over 150 works from throughout the artist’s remarkable career, many of them never seen before in New York—including the largest display to date of his altered magazines, which were the backbone of his art. Heinecken always celebrated photography’s limitless permutations and possibilities, and proposed alternative ideas about the medium—ideas that continue to resonate well into the 21st century.
