GREGORY HEIN

About the Artist

Gregory Hein (b. 1960, Baltimore, USA) uses the materiality of paint to explore the limits of language. His work in painting and video examines chance, symbols, and sentimentality, crafting found-word abstractions that generate shapes spontaneously. Hein studied Studio Art and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Design at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD. The artist has participated in exhibitions at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, MD; Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, MD; Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, NY; Artscape, Baltimore, MD; Strathmore Hall Arts Center, Rockville, MD; Dooby’s Cafe, curated by Liz Faust, Baltimore, MD; Athenaeum, Alexandria, VA; Torpedo Factory Target Art Gallery, Alexandria, VA; among others. Hein’s films have also been exhibited; in 2019, Animations on the Big Screen, Artscape, curated by Corrie Parks, Baltimore, MD; in 2022, Lights Out: A Group Video Exhibition, Brentwood Arts Exchange, Brentwood, MD. In 2020, Hein was juried into White Columns Artist Registry. Hein currently lives and works in the D.C. Metro area.  

Artist's Statement

I am a painter. I make found-word abstract paintings from moments that won’t let me go. I paint with words that come from personal experiences. The words’ actual meanings become irrelevant, like favorite movie quotes, they are touchstones of something else.  The words come from sticky moments and the marks, shapes, and all-over patterns come from the materiality inherent in paint. I paint on raw canvas using modified acrylic, often getting started with a grid. Working with different words of course will have different outcomes, surprises even. The surface of the painting ultimately reflects the process of its own making.  At any exhibition of my paintings I love to hear the unfiltered things people have to say about the work. The conversation often leads to stories of a particular artist’s work that has made a lasting impression on them. Hearing their stories I find connection in our shared passion for art and its disparate yet allied nature.  I believe I am looking to my own process, mark making, and experiments with materials so that life and humanity will make sense to me. It’s ongoing. Always ongoing. Closing in but never arriving so I keep at it.