LESSONS IN POSING/DISTANCING; LESSONS IN POSING SUBJECTS: (HAND/HIP ERRORS); LESSONS IN POSING SUBJECTS: (FIST ERRORS); LESSONS IN POSING SUBJECTS: STANDARD POSE # 6 (ARMS FOLDED)
1981
set of 4 groups of polaroid sx-70 photographs with lithographic texts,
mounted to reves paper
each group 15 x 20 inches
edition 8 of 10

A major figure in post-modernism’s investigation into the pervasive influence of electronic image-based media, Robert Heinecken created an astonishingly forward-looking body of work that laid bare the mechanics of advertising’s relentless aim of standardizing the human form for commercial ends. In these comparative series of images based on advertising conventions, Heinecken juxtaposes similar specific “types”: a youngish white male or female (or couple) whose clothes, styling and posture all conform to the specific demands of creating visual interest -- and desire -- on the part of the potential consumer. Performing these forensics at a time when few considered such analyses to be art, Heinecken is now seen as an important precursor and parallel to “The Pictures Generation” of artists such as Cindy Sherman, Sherrie Levine and Richard Prince (among others) to analyze the media’s largely unexamined power to influence our psyches and very identities as human beings. Born in Denver in 1951, and educated at UCLA after service in the United States Marine Corps, Robert Heinecken died in 2006 after nearly four decades of extensive and influential exhibitions, writing and teaching, (which included the establishment of UCLA’s photography department in the early 1960s); and his work is featured in major museums collections in this country and abroad.



estimated retail value:  $32,000

opening bid:  $23,000

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