The Hedge, 2020

 Desire and Constraint in Heimler and Proc’s Hedges

by Alice R. Burmeister, Ph.D., Winthrop University

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…

Witch Hedge (101,5 x 101,5 cm)

Entangled loneliness - a short impression

by Malgorzata Anna Quinkenstein

What is Yoga? Way of life, gym exercises, philosophy, wisdom? Can yoga heal us? Can yoga save us from evil, illness and failure?

According to the definition of yoga, it is „a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India. Yoga is one of the six Āstika (orthodox) schools of Hindu philosophical traditions.” So - it is something entire, comprehensive, necessary as the breath.

Yoga Hedge is one of the paintings of Heimler & Proc's series The Hedge. Following the definition of yoga and the way in which yoga practitioners live, one should consider: is yoga a hedge - as Heimler & Proc want - or the ivy that charges our lives? Heimler & Proc seem to see yogis as people who use exercises to isolate themselves from the world. They isolate themselves from what the world lives in: emotions, love, hatred, alcohol etc. The only question is: to whom should it serve? To the world or to the yogis? Or to both?

I have known Heimler & Proc for many years and I know how they can be ironic, play with understatement. People in their artworks draw attention. They do not let you forget about them. No matter who they are, the dark contour line of their bodies isolates them from their surroundings. Heimler & Proc paint our loneliness entangled in relationships with the world and other people. In their paintings we are all just a filled outline.

Their new series of paintings makes me afraid. The ubiquitous hedge separates us from the world: from people, from friends, from events, from everything. This separation from the world in Heimler & Proc's paintings gives the impression of security but only seemingly. We are really only trapped in our gardens, in our little imaginary worlds. So: can yoga save us from loneliness? Can we really, thanks to it, connect with the world and become a part of it? Is it so that the activities that are supposed to allow us to better understand the world, bring us closer to this world?

Heimler & Proc look at these problems with irony and distance. Their paintings provoke. Separated by hedges, we grow over ivy of loneliness and enclose ourselves. If we want to understand the world and want the world to understand us, we must leave “the green ecological wall” and jump out of our own sharp contours.