Danny Heller: Suburban Scenes

Danny Heller’s latest series examines life in West Coast mid-century suburbia and its ubiquitous aesthetics that continue to influence American residential design today. Heller turns our eyes to the simplicity and elegance of the enormously innovative designs of the 1950s and 60s. The paintings are remarkable in their depiction of the seemingly unremarkable.

Although devoid of human figures, these paintings are very much about the human experience. There is a sense of waiting spaces - chairs standing in for the residents outside the frame. They are about the day to day routines that are the bedrock of human existence. Their snapshot style is of catching a moment of quiet, a pause in the frenetic pace of modern life.

The paintings are about memories and mood.  The evening light fading over a kidney shaped pool, bright afternoon sun on classic woven lawn chairs, the glint of new chrome on a car. We revel in the clean lines of the architecture, the simplicity of a the chair, the dramatic tree shadows of the Southern California light.

Bold, geometric compositions stand out in the series. Heller uses his masterful technique to play with the idea of representational painting. Deeply grounded in the tradition of Photorealism, Heller is part of a younger generation of painters exploring the environment through that lens.  Heller’s painting distill daily post-war suburban life into snapshots – or recollections – of a place and time.  But what is doubly intriguing about these paintings is that they are all based on contemporary locations as they exist today.  Heller is directing our attention to the angles of beams and rooflines, to the wonder of natural world, to how our built environment significantly influences our lives.