Willy Heek’s ninth solo exhibition with the gallery, Intervals, features new variations of colorful and expressive paintings and works on paper.
Based in Rhode Island, Heeks has been creating dynamic abstract paintings for over forty years. He explores complex spatial relationships with the use of patterns, organic lines, and fields of color. Through a process of applying oil and acrylic, spraypaint, and other mixed-media materials on canvas, Heeks weaves together multiple layers of color that collide, almost frenetically, revealing hints of graffiti and echoes of natural forms. His sweeping brushwork and mark-making remain central to the work as he balances gestural movements with harder-edged geometric forms and lines.
Throughout his practice, Heeks has also explored the constant flow of modern-day messaging and information through layered imagery and dynamic compositions. In these new works, he shifts his palette toward bright blues, yellows, pinks, and greens, incorporating amorphous lines that loosely trace and outline compositional forms. In some paintings, Heeks has built textured surfaces through layered brushstrokes, emphasizing movement and the physicality of his process. Working through an improvisational approach that blends intention with subconscious impulse, Heeks creates atmospheric paintings and works on paper that draw viewers into their shifting visual language.
