Oh, yes, yes. I was in the [2018] Carnegie International [exhibition]; I sort of had the hallway when you came in, so I was easily identified, you might say. But after that people got interested in me, and I decided to go with Karma Gallery, and they exhibited me there three years ago, two years ago, I forget when. I’ll be having another show on March 4.
Between this show and showing in other venues — like an outdoor show in Milwaukee; Art+Practice, which is Mark Bradford’s place in L.A.; and the Nasher [Sculpture Center] in Dallas — I’ve had more exposure, probably, in two years, at least prominent exposure …
… than in the previous 40?
Fifty.
How does that feel?
Well, I don’t feel that the work has improved, but the situation has tremendously.
Doesn’t it feel any different in the studio now that your work’s getting so much more attention?
No, no. I’m a person that, I want to see it done as best I can, even if no one sees it but me. I used to tell my children, always be on your best behavior, because you never know who’s watching you, who’s been looking at you.
Why do you think you weren’t recognized earlier?
Well, first thing, you have to be out there to be noticed. But you have to look back at a time when there were some very good Afro-American artists, like Norman Lewis, Alma Thomas, even people before Sam Gilliam. I’ll digress here for a second — I remember when I was in the first Three Rivers Arts Festival in Pittsburgh, there was a Black gentleman, I guess about in his 50s, that did flower paintings. So another Black artist and I, we were standing near our work. He came up, and he said, “Is this yours?” I said, “Yeah.” He says, “Don’t stand around your work. Because if white people see that you did it, they won’t buy it.”
Will Heinrich
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