Heidi Lanino
Heidi Lanino is a figurative painter, draftswoman and sculptor who has exhibited extensively across the United States, especially in New York State. Recent solo exhibitions in New York include features at 66 Orange Gallery in Sloatsburg, Mindy Ross Gallery in Newburgh, Flatiron Prow Art Space in New York City, and Silverwood Gallery in Saratoga Springs. Notable publications include Vogue UK, The Chronogram, and Hudson Valley Times. Heidi’s works remain in many prestigious collections across the country including with the Gibbs Museum of Art in South Carolina and HBO corporate headquarters in Brooklyn.
For the purposes of the article we will be focusing on Heidi’s paintings and works on paper. These paintings and drawings are sometimes based on history paintings by great artists from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Heidi deconstructs these mastercopies into voluminous abstractions and distortions which reflect rapid motion and color field painting. She breaks down the figure into patterns, whether smeared across the canvas or paper, ‘dissected’, or through repetition reminiscent of futurism from the early 20th century.
Containing robust form and pastel tones, these low contrast paintings contain expressive brushwork and marks but with a refined, soft palette. Heidi breaks down the subjects into basic forms and expressions of line quality. Her erratic and unpredictable lines provide definition to the anatomy and the illusion of light based on their thickness. Like a harmonic rhythmic dance and with great improvisation, the works could be described as a cross between classical music and jazz. Or perhaps the works can be described as a soprano at a grand opera with bold, strategic forms and marks.
Dance # 5 (pictured above) remains one of Heidi’s most expressive works with just hints of anatomical form such as breasts, thighs, and hips through fluid line quality. The forms push our eye vertically as the linear figures strive towards the sky. Containing great curvature and accentuations of vibrant color such as purple and Naples yellow, she applies a minimal approach to the subjects. With great motion and stride, the figures flow freely, without restraint.
Heidi Lanino can be described as an expressive artist who takes exuberant efforts to capture the naturalistic essence of the human form. Through extensive experience and a delicate connection to the convex nature of anatomy, she breathes life onto the surface, as her paintings feel alive and vibrant. She takes us on a journey through the history of painting, applying her own touch and creating suggestive linearity and a sense of rhythmic dance in every piece. Heidi Lanino remains a promising artist who breathes new life into contemporary interpretations of the human form and spirit.
