DANIEL HEIDKAMP

Vaulted Arch

November 18th - December 19th, 2026

Opening: November 18th, 6-8 PM

In his 9th solo exhibition with the gallery, Daniel Heidkamp culls together nearly two decades of en plein air and studio paintings along with a trove of unseen drawings, collage and oil on paper. His inaugural presentation at Half Gallery occurred in 2013 with “Sneeze Buds” at our former uptown location. A year later, Heidkamp followed up with his love letter to Central Park at White Columns. Writing about that particular show for The New York Times, Roberta Smith noted how Heidkamp “makes paintings that seem fully his own, while doing more than his bit for a wryly self-conscious representational painting. He operates with an effortless, loose-limbed flair and even a bit of newness in an area that would seem pretty exhausted.” She went on to place Daniel among an assortment of painting “practitioners” including Jonas Wood, Dana Schutz, Leidy Churchman, and Aliza Nisenbaum.

Funny to revisit this review almost a dozen year after it was first published. Has our perception of the landscape - be it the American West or New England or the French Riviera - changed so radically? One could argue that AI is creeping into our vision of what constitutes an idyllic natural setting as much as climate change will shift how we see famous vistas or other pastorals captured by previous generations of artists.

“Places I put on my itinerary to visit in 2026 like Sedona and Monument Valley kept catching wildfires this summer,” observes Heidkamp, “then floods. And not just in America. The mountains above Amalfi which I’ve painted several times were burning in Autumn.”

And yet there can be a humorous undercurrent to Daniel Heidkamp’s pictures as well. Hard to look at his portrayal of The Painted Desert and not feel a wink embedded in the rocky outcroppings. Were the Greeks really hiding behind their columns as de Kooning once supposed?

In this wide-ranging exhibition, the artist takes us from the hills of Hollywood to the shores of Edward Hopper’s Massachusetts, from the vaulted ceilings of Italy to the natural arches of Utah. Consistent throughout these various terrains, Heidkamp commits to deep observation in his work bringing forth the Fauvist and the Post-Impressionistic impulses to create a flavor unique to his Sunset Park studio.

Daniel Heidkamp has previously shown at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Acquavella Galleries, Karma, Loyal and Almine Rech. His current exhibition “Vaulted Arch” is on view through December 19th.