First place Winner of Spring Salon 2010 at the Springville Museum of Art,

Jeff Hein, Consumed (2010) Oil on canvas.

Review By Micah Christensen

Each idea has a medium by which it is best communicated. Hamlet is a masterful

play; but, it would make an awful symphony. Swan Lake, in my opinion, would be a

boring poem. Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony could not possibly be translated into a

short story. Consumed is as complicated and perfect as any great novel. Yet, I

cannot imagine its message said any better in words. It is a complete thought

matched perfectly to its medium.

It is more depressingly evident here than ever that much of the time and

energy I have is spent on dead things. I have been duped, self-deceived with the

siren song of consumption that promises happiness but never satisfies. Seeing the

argument and its facts laid out so clearly by Hein is both a rebuke and liberation. It

is the message for our times.

Hein’s painting is really as much about what he painted as what he didn’t.

The subtext–or subimage–of this work is about what really matters. When I stand

in front of Consumed, I become extremely and involuntarily introspective. I see the things that really matter to me. If paintings are windows to the soul, as I once

heard and do believe, this is an Imax-sized pane, letting in copious quantities of daylight.  The epic proportion of Consumed is only one aspect of how ambitious this

work is. Hein demonstrates the most sizable arsenal of techniques of any painting of any twenty paintings put together–in the Salon: the glass eye of the wooden duck,

the burnished silver of a candlestick, the leather luxury bag, ragged cork on a dart board, feathers, stitching, plastic game consoles, just to name a few. Hein’s

craftsmanship is laudatory. Compositionally, these many objects combine in a symphony of color, shape, and proportion while retaining their individual integrity.

Could it be any larger without becoming distracting? Conversely, could Consumed be any smaller and still communicate the complexity of the message? The answer to

both: “No.”

Aspiring artists, bring your sketchbooks. Already-established artists, take inspiration. Artists and non-artists alike, bring your journals or diaries and let its

message confront you with full force. You will be uncomfortable; but, you will be better for it.

M. C.