Lexi Wilson- Robert Heinecken

Robert Heinecken was an American photographer, print maker, and conceptual artist. Although most known for his photographs, he rarely used a camera. Most of his work involved appropriating and reprocessing images from magazines, product packaging, or television. His methods of transformation ranged from lithography, etching, and camera-less direct exposure photograms and photo emulsions applied to canvas. These methods had a wide range of effects on his viewer, from delicately beautiful to deliberately jarring.

Heinecken uses these processes to portray his concepts or feelings about his subjects. In his image displayed at the VMFA, Untitled Newswoman (Jane Pauley), he held photo-sensitive paper to a paused, videotaped image of a popular newswoman. This image, indistinct and distorted is barely recognizable and contrasts with the drive for clear screen resolution of the time. This highlights the layers of mediation between the actor and the viewer.