Recto/Verso is the latest attempt to grasp the magnitude of the monumental archive of photograms that Robert Heinecken created during the past 40 years. In this current sampling, comprised of work from his own archive, Heinecken offers a look back at the decade of the 1980s, where decadence and narcissism inhabit the same space as spirituality and family values. Though the patinas of these colour photograms speak of that generation, their revelations are contemporary in their incisiveness. In looking at the history of the photogram, beginning with Henry Fox Talbot’s ‘photogenic drawings’ and Man Ray’s ‘Rayographs’, Heinecken must be viewed as its most rebellious practitioner – unflinching, enigmatic and alert. Robert Heinecken’s work has been widely exhibited in the United States, Europe and Asia, and is included in many major collections, including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; LA County Museum of Art; and the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson. Recto/Verso is printed in a first edition of 1,000 casebound copies, with an introduction by Rod Slemmons, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago.
