For the series Recto/Verso, Heinecken manipulates advertising imagery, looking quite literally beneath its surface to create a social satire that highlights female sexuality and media messages. He uses his trademark method of contact printing, where a magazine page with images on either side is placed on light sensitive paper and exposed, front and back of the page (recto and verso) being burned into the final photograph at the same time. In all, the Recto/Verso portfolio contains twelve color Cibachrome photograms from the late 1980s, taken largely from commercial fashion photography. Models sunbathe or interact with various products, but the scenes become complicated and awkward when both sides of the page are visible simultaneously. Sharply dressed women are splashed across the face with nail polish. Legs are inexplicably intertwined with asparagus. Heinecken plays with mixed messages and double-talk to confront us with images of vanity and consumption that reveal the construction and superficiality of media culture. [more...]
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| Robert Heinecken
Recto/Verso #7, 1988
Cibachrome photogram with velum text insert
Image: 14 x 11 inches; Framed: 20.25 x 16.25 inches
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