©  Mary Heilmann; courtesy the artist, 303 Gallery and Hauser & Wirth.

Mary Heilmann originally studied literature at UC Santa Barbara, before switching to poetry and ceramics at San Francisco State University and, later, UC Berkeley. Representative of the artist’s fascination with visual space, San Francisco (Day) and San Francisco (Night) suggest the same cityscape under different lighting conditions. The windowed facade of a building, colorfully lit from within, is implied by six small rectangles of vivid color that shine through a layered background: black overpainted with white in the daytime view, and white overpainted with black to represent night. Evoking the sensation of watching the world go by at different times of day—like, perhaps, from a bedroom window in a childhood home—these works demonstrate the way in which Heilmann’s practice is inextricably linked to her own experience.