‘Embracing chaos to make art’
“Chaos Gives Birth To Being’’ (oil on canvas), by Daniel Heyman, in his show “Summons,’’ at Cade Tompkins Projects, Providence, Oct. 30-Dec. 31.
Kathleen Tolan in the “Summons’’ catalog essay, writes:
“{T}h giant, squatting on bright green rocks in a blue sea, his body covered with babies crawling on him, being born by him. He points up at a bunch of purple grapes. I think of Dionysus, of the playful lover of life, and I think of the necessity of embracing chaos to make art.’’
The gallery says:
“Daniel Heyman is an artist whose work in drawing, printmaking and painting directs the viewer's attention to contemporary social and political issues. Deeply interested in narrative, he uses images to tell stories that combine a love of history and myth in an effort to provoke discussion and empathy. In his recent “Summons’’ series, Heyman emphatically returns to images without words. His previous effort, the monumental woodcut “Janus’’ from 2019-2020, represents time as an endless string of birth, renewal and death for creatures and ideas. Here, even the very human act of making culture is seen as both creative and destructive, signaling the profound influence Japanese art and culture has had on his work.’’
Daniel Heyman lives in Tiverton, R.I., partly a Providence and Fall River suburb and partly an affluent summer place with a beautiful shoreline and some farms, too.
The Union Public Library, part of the Tiverton Four Corners Historic District, has been operating since 1820.
View from Ft. Barton, in Tiverton
Native impression
"Heart First'' (Dartmouth) (oil on mylar), in the show "In Our Own Words: Native Impression 2015-2016,'' at Cade Tompkins Projects, Providence, Sept. 10-Nov. 5.
It's a collaboration with Lucy Ganje chronicling the lives of native Americans in the Tribal Nations of North Dakota. These are works that Mr. Heyman created during an artist residency at Dartmouth College (which was created in the 1760s with the aim of educating Native American as well as "English youth.'')