The Dangerous Vision of Isabella Heresy

Isabella Heresy, Visionary Artist

Unless you were born under a bridge or south of McMasters Avenue, you've by now heard the buzz about New School Retro-contextualism Pop painter Isabella Heresy. One can hardly have begun to indulge their latte at Bernard's without hearing her name dropped by anyone from fast-talking cryptobrat engineers to messy-haired university students to chefs on break from across the street at Koi. If the furor surrounding Kate Bentley's "Feminism Versus Stonehenge" show at the Poplar last year was a bonfire, then Heresy's "I Am the Underwater" exhibition at the Springfield was the firebombing of Dresden. Now, collectors, influencers, and known-name money all clamor for a piece of her production artistique.

Heresy has shown in galleries throughout the greater Northeast and in shows around the world for over two decades. She graduated with an MFA from the University of Greifswald in 1995 before relocating to New York. As the century rolled over, she found herself deeply engaged with her Buddhist philosophy, becoming, as she says, "complicit with bouyancy," and eventually becoming a protege of Antiautodidacticaldada pioneer Henry Wad, whom she married in 2003. After giving birth to three children, who were all adopted out to California tech moguls in a mini-scandal of the era, Heresy divorced and rededicated herself to herself, creating the memorable "Sequence of Sequences" series of paintings to much acclaim in 2009.

Heresy continued to work in her spacious studio in Braxton and was a well-regarded fixture at parties and dinners, but it seemed her work might never again match the excitement of "Sequence." To the surprise of some, the response to the unveiling of "Underwater" was immediate and overwhelmingly positive, quickly capturing the attention of the people who matter. Prescia Carlyle, art critic for the E Street Main wrote, "Isabella Heresy has been to the mountaintop and returned with visions of a paradise in decay, regenerating itself through orgasm." Paul Clark of Emergence was similarly impressed, noting "Heresy is the lifeblood of a new kind of culture. Her work is a phenomenon."

Katerina Sossage displays the painting "Basquiat on the Cross with Venus at the Siege of Stalingrad"

In the wake of the show's success and her own career rejuvenation, prices on Heresy's paintings were bid up to impressive levels (for a living artist). "Basquiat on the Cross with Venus at the Siege of Stalingrad" sold at Sotheby's for $1.1 million to collector Katerina Sossage (of the Durban Sossages). "It's a beautiful work. It's history. It creates its own light and heat. In that way, it mirrors my own passion."

"'Cross," she continues, "is a stellar example of how Heresy's style has developed beyond mere representation and figure and into a more postmodern synthesis of form, color, and intentionality. One can feel the cold judgment in the 'Basquiat' eye as his battered body is carried by starving Russian soldiers over the landscape of the goddess's tormented breasts. What do we now believe, at the end, crucified on a heroin needle under a blue cloud? Heresy forces us to confront the color Blue. Such a sense of what it means to be human, sublime."

After a long pause, she concluded, "This painting appreciates me."

Anna and Blake Canoli with the painting "Shish Kabob 12"

Across town, "Shish Kabob 12," now in the private collection of Anna and Blake Canoli, price undisclosed, shows the technical skill of a master at the absolute pinnacle of her craft. "It's supposed to look like a cathedral is what they tell me," said Mr. Canoli, owner/operator of the venture capital fund Splendrock. "There's like a fish nailed to a door, mostly a bunch of colors and lines, there's a haunted doll or something in there, Anna picked it out, it was my anniversary gift to us."

"I expect the artwork will appreciate and continue to appreciate," he continued, "so long as interest rates don't skyrocket. The artist is supposed to be a big deal. Wild. I love art. We were in Fiji last Summer and this sheik was showing me pictures of his art collection, and I was like, 'I could get into that,' and now mine's bigger than his."

Heresy herself describes "Shish Kabob 12" as "Your mother confronting her abortion."

Patrons assess the painting "Getting High on Your Own Hypocrisy" at the Kernwell Center for Fine Arts

The painting "Getting High on Your Own Hypocrisy," on display at the Kernwell Center for Fine Arts, was characterized in Humanities Quarterly as Heresy's "visual answer to the question of Nikolai Myaskovsky's Symphony No. 6 in E-flat minor, Op. 23."

Gallery Director Nadim Al-Farouqi describes the painting as "a visual feast. Sumptuous. Look, let me show you. See here how the crimson smear on the prostitute's blade reflects the bruised lips of the taxi driver? It suggests they knew each other, perhaps long ago, in school, and they are pretending not to remember. And the stained smile, like blackberries. Blackberries, like in The Tale of the Mouse? Now we realize we are in an allegory! You'll remember, in that children's story, the hero finally approaches the gate of the Crepe Facade and encounters the old shrew lady who gives him a candle? And look, look here, this seeming smudge in the corner of the painting, amid the little daffodils which are sprouting out of this sperm whale? Right here? You see it, right? Is it a whitish-yellow glob? Or is it a candle? A wax candle. Casting a black-berry colored shadow. Amazing. Every brushstroke in this painting is pregnant with suggestion. Heresy is an absolute revelation."

Dabbing sweat from his brow with a handkerchief, Al-Farouqi added, "Of course it's all open to interpretation."

Isabella Heresy in her studio with cat, Munch.

So what is next for Isabella Heresy? I briefly met the famously reclusive and taciturn artist in the studio she shares with a disrespectful cat named Munch. On her walls and around the space were various paintings in process, and for some reason, the entire space smelled of cinnamon. I was, admittedly, somewhat astounded at the direction Heresy's newest work is taking: explicit and obvious, to the point of spelling things out for the viewer, canvases dripping with condescension.

Heresy led me to the door and bid me goodbye, a little haughtily, after a quick photograph and a brief statement. Still, it is always a pleasure to spend time with successes, even if they have peaked.

"I don't believe in the future," she told me. "This world has worked out for me, and I can do what I want. I'm getting my entire body tattooed and starting a street zine now. Called Black Rainbow. It's all I ever wanted. To belong to something. I think I know now who my people are."

We can only hope the best for Ms. Heresy, and it will be fascinating to see going forward if she has anything left to offer.

Neil Oldman for the Daydream Misfit Website and Blog.

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