Mary Heilmann's Dual 2008 Exhibitions at New Museum and Zwirner & Wirth Reveal Four Decades of Playful Experimentation

Mary Heilmann's work from 1967 to 2005 was showcased in two concurrent New York exhibitions in fall 2008. At the New Museum, 'To Be Someone' presented a survey curated by Richard Flood, featuring early sculptural experiments like Starry Night (Night Sky) (1967) and The Big Dipper (1969). The show included ceramic objects made with collaborators Steve Keister and Rachel Bleiweiss-Sande. Paintings such as Malibu (1970) on unstretched canvas evoked seascapes, referencing Heilmann's California background—born in San Francisco in 1940, she studied at UC Santa Barbara and UC Berkeley. By the 1970s, works like L.A. Pair (1976) responded to minimalist influences from artists like Ellsworth Kelly and Blinky Palermo, using scraping techniques to reveal underlying colors. Later pieces, including Neo Noir (1998) and The Third Man (1999), displayed chromatic rectangles with dark brushwork. Recent canvases like Jack of Hearts (2005) featured transparent red stains over checkerboards. At Zwirner & Wirth, 'Some Pretty Colors' offered a refined presentation, contrasting with the New Museum's harsh lighting. The New Museum, reopened in December 2007, hosted the exhibition from October 22, 2008, to January 26, 2009, at 235 Bowery, while Zwirner & Wirth's show ran from September 17 to October 25, 2008, at 32 East 69th Street.