FOXTROT AROUND THE PIANO, 2013
Inspired by Jane Campion's The Piano, Foxtrot Around the Piano explores the intimate, charged relationship between body and instrument — a dialogue of physical contact and spiritual energy.
At the heart of each canvas, the grand piano operates as both stage and structural axis. Rotated into a new orientation in every work, it becomes a constant yet shifting architecture around which all else moves.
Through Campion's lens, bringing a piano to Aotearoa was symbolic: it was meant to stay, to take root. Around it, figures embody a different dance with each composition, evolving from the measured elegance of the foxtrot to the falls and lifts of rock and roll.
Heimler & Proc capture the passions of life and the inexorable passage of time, freezing fleeting gestures of desire, abandon and connection against the enduring, sculptural presence of the piano — tracing both a single evening and decades of shifting social mores.
Piano I (122cm x 122cm)
Piano painting
Part of the artists’ ongoing Foxtrot Around the Piano series
Piano III investigates the grand piano as pure sculptural form, observed from shifting angles and viewpoints.
Here, the instrument is reimagined through the charged energy of Rock ’n’ Roll. A couple dances with fierce intensity on an open grassy stage, their bodies locked in a dynamic embrace. From the raised lid of the piano, a wild-haired pianist leans toward the viewer, hands raised mid-performance. The sweeping curves of the instrument mirror and amplify the dancers’ lines, transforming the piano itself into an active participant. Music, movement and form collide in a single high-voltage moment.
Like the earlier painting of the series, Piano II explores the grand piano as pure sculptural form, examined from shifting angles and viewpoints.
The open lid and intersecting frames create a bold triangle that functions like a painting within a painting, layering the composition into nested spaces. In the foreground, a figure leans dramatically across the keys, while others interact with theatrical energy above. The geometric structure of the instrument both contains and amplifies the figures, turning the piano itself into the central actor in a vivid interplay of form, space and movement.
Piano III (122 cm x 91cm)
Piano II (142cm x 91cm)
EXHIBITION BOOKLET
Take a closer look
Explore the complete series in the accompanying exhibition booklet.
$15 NZD