The Hedge, 2020

In a world full of ever-increasing constraints, secret pleasures seem all the more desirable. Recognizing that the suggestion of order and protection represented by imposed boundaries is illusory, the temptation to test and defy such limitations is natural. The hedges which delineate our outdoor residential spaces possess the ability to enclose space and create boundaries — but to humans with agency, they also offer the opportunity for escape, transgression, and even connection. Heimler and Proc’s recent body of work, Hedges, playfully suggests a range of such possibilities, all the more poignant during the COVID era, a period in which the impulse towards human closeness and touch is under constant scrutiny.

In this series, the human subjects loom large in the composition, centrally posed and uncomfortably close to the picture plane. The viewer is directly confronted by various scenes where interactions are playing out. Several of the works, like Spark and Yoga Hedge, are cheerful and bright. Others, like Bubble’s Concert, Season’s Greetings, Keep it Warm, and Witch Hedge, reveal a level of discomfort in the subjects’ faces that is palpable, creating a more sinister feel. The contorted poses and sinewy limbs typical of Heimler and Proc’s style of figures suggest underlying psychological impulses or neuroses, accompanied by corresponding responses – perverted glances deflected, or self-consciousness generated by intense scrutiny. Much can be understood in these works by examining the subjects’ gazes, as well as what their hands are reaching for or grasping, often with great awkwardness. The man in the bowler hat who reaches out from behind the hedge in Season’s Greetings to touch the female figure’s elbow seems undeterred by her lack of interest or response — we sense her resignation as she wearily looks out at the viewer. In Bubble’s Concert, the female performer stares out at the viewer with painful self-consciousness, while a neighbor behind the hedge eerily waves. Magnified by the lack of personal space in each interaction, viewers identify with the uncomfortable sentiments on display, bringing their own lived experiences and gut reactions to the imagined storylines.

While the hedges provide the organizational structure integral to each composition, there are additional details that deserve attention. I was particularly drawn to the beautiful flowers and plants. These references to regional flora and accompanying landscape features ground us in the local, but their meticulous renderings are otherworldly and evoke the surrealist tendencies of dreams by taking on lives of their own. The food and drink displayed in High Tea Hedge create a similar effect. The tea cup, cakes, and sandwiches suggest visions of comfort and security, but their labored rendering balanced atop the hedge belies a sense of normalcy – this is not your typical high tea!

In contemplating these works, it is tempting to wonder what metaphorical hedges shape our own lives. Humans must constantly live with the tension latent in yearning for things they cannot have. If nothing else, the recent pandemic has demonstrated the need to let go of certain social expectations. The breaking down of rules that have constrained us in the past allow for new models of being, full of possibility. Recognizing that we both shape, and are shaped by, fluid boundaries that exist as much in our minds as in our backyards, the urge to cast one’s eyes over the hedge is tantalizing, but also terrifying. I plan to take a peek as soon as I can muster the courage…