Heidi Brueckner
My work focuses mostly on cultural allegories and norms conveyed through a collage-like juxtaposition of figurative imagery, symbolism, bright color and elaborate patterning. Often the figures personify the precarious, dark, grotesque, and sleazy side of human nature, subjects by which I am continually fascinated. These topics seem to require, and in fact dictate, frontal, discomforting and intrusive compositions.
My most recent body of work, entitled Monsterbet, is a series of 26 oil & mixed media paintings, corresponding to the 26 letters of the alphabet. Every 2 paintings form a rhyming couplet. Each letter stands for an invented monster that has a particular quirk. The series is based on the traditional format of children’s alphabet rhymes, but with a layer of social commentary. The subject could be benign & childlike, but I strive to keep a gritty edge in the work. They are silly & fanciful while simultaneously touching on some of my favored themes of human vice, morality & fear.
For more information about the artist, please visit her website.