Hein is a post-minimalist for our time. His work makes overt reference to the great mid-century artists like Penone, Lee Ufan, Lucio Fontana, Yves Klein and others who pioneered the global birth of Minimalism and Conceptualism from the late 1950s through the 70s. This exhibition will include one of the artist's acclaimed labyrinths indoor or outdoor sculpture works that echo the forms of both English gardens and the works of Richard Serra. In Hein's iteration, a mirrored surface plays up the distortion of space between the viewer and the object, and heightens our response to the surrounding environment. Also on view will be Hein's popular text boxes: neon illuminations that deploy phrases from yogic and other Eastern philosophy. These connect with Hein's own spiritual practice, and invite the viewer into contemplation or meditation. Hein's work further continues the notions of 'the sublime' in the history of art: the depiction of light as having spiritual, spatial, and formal implications. The use materials like mirror and neon in the works shown here evoke this timeless, ongoing concept.
