A Preview of Drawing the MoMENt

A Solo by Chuck Hettinger at Leslie-Lohman Museum Project Space

This Friday evening, the Leslie-Lohman Museum Project Space on Prince Street in SoHo will launch, Drawing the MoMENt, a solo show of paintings on paper by Chuck Hettinger. This exhibition, curated by Christopher Stout, shares the artist’s perspective on the male form and the joy of Gay sexuality through the eyes of a man that has been HIV positive since the beginning of the epidemic. Surviving the culture of fear that permeated his generation, Chuck’s work celebrates a new era’s embrace of sexuality, nudity, exhibitionism, and camaraderie. Working in large format with acrylic paint markers, Hettinger’s immediately recognizable style comes from over a decade of participation in the Charles Leslie Drawing Workshop.

We sat down with Chuck Hettinger in his studio in the East Village, a neighborhood that he’s lived in since the late 1970’s, to talk about his work:

Chuck Hettinger, Coyote Manscape, acrylic marker on paper. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Arcade Project: Drawing the human form is as old and loved as art itself. How did you come to discover your practice and what is it that you seek to contribute to this art genre?

Chuck Hettinger: First of all, thank you for meeting with me to talk about my work and the exhibition. As a background to your question, I didn’t start life drawing until about 15 years ago. I’d always drawn from photos or done graphic renderings. I was looking for something that combined my love of men and art. Something to help me feel less sexually compulsive and more productive in expressing my feelings.

Since the brain is the largest sex organ, I wanted to work with rendering gay sexuality with a contemporary aesthetic. Eschewing photographic composition, I have embraced large, quickly rendered colorful drawings in a recognize able style that captures the immediate moment.

Chuck Hettinger, Carlos’s Nap, acrylic marker on paper. Photo courtesy of the artist.

AP: What sort of immediate moments? Can you say more about this?

CH: I am drawing the joy of erotic gay sexuality, camaraderie, fraternity, nudity, and being alive.  I’ve been HIV+ since before the disease had a name; and as a complication of my HIV status, I am also recently a cancer survivor. I lived through the culture of fear that told me I was worthless and deserving of death, and some sort of abomination in the eyes of God. I never internalized any of that, especially the sex equals death equation.

The passage of time has provided us with a new generation that doesn’t carry that baggage. I’m documenting this aspect of my life along with a newfound appreciation of sexual freedom through their eyes. I’m taking a good look at the beauty of exhibitionism, masturbation, and sex play.

Chuck Hettinger, Slow Hand, acrylic marker on paper. Photo courtesy of the artist.

AP: What has informed your technique and inspiration as an artist?

CH: My introduction to drawing began in a Catholic, military, elementary boarding school for 3 years (think nuns with whips and chains) where I was taught to draw large circles on newsprint for months. From this humble beginning, I was fortunate during my high school years to be introduced by my teacher, Lyn Laman, to the mid-century masters in the Albright Knox Museum long before seeing the work in textbooks. I was thrilled at the exuberance of color and the scale of the works. Warhol and Lichtenstein filled my dreams. As an avid Superman comics reader, I was also enthralled that my teacher’s name incorporated the double L! She was one of the most influential people in my life. High School was the extent of my formal education. The 80’s East Village art scene was my school of life.

Decades later, I was blessed with being introduced to the Charles Leslie drawing workshop soon after its inception. I’d never drawn from life and was surrounded by some of New York’s most talented artists, illustrators, and graphic designers. I was possessed by a fear that I couldn’t draw in an artistic manner; however, illustrator Robert Richards immediately set me straight, saying that I had a talent worth exploring, and he was looking forward to seeing more.

I set about generating my own style by focusing on what I wasn’t seeing in the work around me. The ten- and twenty-minute poses set me free, and my simple line drawings became larger, rendered on brightly colored paper with acrylic paint markers (at that point found only in craft stores) in a double lined style.

I complimented an accomplished painter friend’s charcoal portrait one night and he said “… anyone could have done that sketch, it’s academic. I like your work. When I see it I immediately know it’s yours.”

Chuck Hettinger, MSTRB8, acrylic marker on paper. Photo courtesy of the artist.

AP: Are you ever concerned that your works can only be appreciated by an LGBT audience?

CH: That’s a great question! I also do a lot of portraiture and that has an easily recognized universal audience. When it comes to this specific work, I think the basic need for emotion and bonding is universal. I certainly grew up seeing imagery of men and women engaged in playful ways. I’m now applying that to my world and developing it in what I hope is a universally appealing way. I hope that your readers will visit the exhibition at The Leslie-Lohman Museum Project Space and form their own opinion.

Chuck Hettinger, Vermont Woods, acrylic marker on paper. Photo courtesy of the artist.

More information:

Leslie – Lohman Museum Project Space
127-B Prince Street (Basement Space) New York, NY 10012
LeslieLohman.org

Exhibition dates: Friday February 28 ­ Sunday, March 1
Opening: February 28, 6-8 PM
Gallery hours: February 29 & March 1, 12-6 PM
Artist talk: March 1, 3-4 PM with light refreshments     

Chuck Hettinger (b. 1953), a New York state native (Buffalo/Niagara Falls), has lived and worked in New York City since 1979. His acclaimed and published decorative painting work draws inspiration from his childhood pop art influences. Since 2003 he has focused on the male nude, drawing from life and capturing the moment in quickly rendered drawings using large format colored paper and acrylic paint markers. He has exhibited at Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, Danceteria, the Ace Hotel, the Fashion Institute of Technology, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the Provincetown Art Association and Museum.

The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art provides a platform for artistic exploration through multi-faceted queer perspectives. We embrace the power of the arts to inspire, explore, and foster understanding of the rich diversity of LGBTQI+ experiences. Created by our founders to preserve LGBTQ identity and build community, the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art acts as a cultural hub for the LGBTQ community

This exhibition has been curated by Christopher Stout, a QUEER abstract painter who lives and works in New York.

Chuck Hettinger, Butt Ink Model, acrylic marker on paper. Photo courtesy of the artist.