Receive Weekly Email and Text Message Updates:
Sign up for latest info on concerts, dining, promotions and more!
Go!

Related Stories ...

Most Popular

National Features >

  • Village Voice

    The Great Walls of Chinatown

    With the exception of the electric rice cookers, this Bowery tenement could have come straight from the Nineteenth Century.

    By Elizabeth Dwoskin

  • Houston Press

    Getting Off

    DUI attorney Tyler Flood wins 80 percent of his trials--even if his clients were 100 percent drunk.

    By Mike Giglio

  • Miami New Times

    Park or Die Tryin'

    From the homeless parking mafia to the meter fairy, finding a spot in Miami has taken a turn toward the surreal.

    By Gus Garcia-Roberts

  • City Pages

    The Baddest Men on the Planet

    Straight from the Sam's Club tire shop, Brett Rogers prepares to meet Fedor Emelianenko in mortal combat.

    By Bradley Campbell

A Colorful Character

Share

  • rss

By Hiya Swanhuyser

Published on June 28, 2008 at 4:22am

Willy Heeks is an old Rhode Island surfer dude. He's also a great painter who says his abstracts are sometimes inspired by the Atlantic Ocean's (meager) curls. Strangely, his work reminds us of Raymond Saunders' urban-Pittsburgh–inspired abstract paintings more than anything ocean-related. Heeks' stuff at his solo show "Recent Work" has the feel of a tube of goo squeezed hard and exploded — the look of messy genius. Inside the smears and drips is classic (read: highly educated) abstraction, with its secret delights and tightly rendered details. Deep layering is Heeks' signature move (he's also known for a brilliant palette), but we love the dark line figures that overlay his broader, lighter strokes. If he comes out here for the show, we hope he gets inspired at Steamer Lane, or at least Ocean Beach.
July 9-Aug. 16, 2008