Angela Heisch: Soft Possession
GRIMM is pleased to present Soft Possession, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Angela Heisch, on view at the London gallery from November 26, 2026, to January 9, 2027. This will be the artist's fourth exhibition with the gallery and her first in the London location.
Angela Heisch’s abstractions are both ontologically open and geometrically precise; in her newest body of work – aptly titled Soft Possession – a loosening (or ‘softening’) of form occurs, reflecting Heisch’s increased conviction of the inspiration to be found in sitting with irresolution and unknowing.
In paintings such as Softcore and Ages, radiance and fluid gestures spiral out from a central orb – as if a flower blooming from a bud or a star emitting a halo of light. While Heisch has always been intrigued by the visual qualities of movement, these works are concerned with a distinctly biomorphic sense of growth, whether on an organic or cosmic scale. The artist speaks of the microcosm-macrocosm analogy in relation to her work, wherein the human being and the cosmos are interconnected and intrinsically reflect one another.
Indeed, Heisch describes her own works as “mirrors” upon which associations and somatics dissolve into each other to evoke an entirely singular experience for each viewer, yet one which brings the individual into a dialogue with an enigma larger than themselves.
The sphere recurs across Heisch’s practice, acting as both an entry point to more fluid abstractions, as well as a symbol of unity and cosmic wholeness. Yet the viewer is also asked to suspend any expectations of fixed meaning. Heisch’s method of applying multiple thin layers of colour gives her work an almost opalescent and transient quality, like the vibratory heat of the sun or the flash of a precious stone. In these new works, light is no longer used to illuminate and ‘make clear’; instead it expands and softens forms. Similarly, poetic titles act as clues for motions or atmosphere (such as Surgent or Skipping Stone) but give away little else.
As in the entirety of Heisch’s oeuvre, both precision and surrender are intrinsic to these works. While in previous shows, larger works corresponded with smaller chalk pastel drawings, in these paintings, studies were abandoned after the initial layer of paint was applied to the canvas.
About the artist
Angela Heisch (b. 1989, Auckland, NZ) lives and works in the Hudson Valley, NY (US). She received a BA Fine Arts from the University of Potsdam, SUNY, NY (US), in 2011 and an MFA from the University of Albany, SUNY, NY (US), in 2014.
Selected exhibitions include Gleaming Containment, Yi Space, Hangzhou (CN); Quiet Rules, Moskowitz Bayse, Los Angeles, CA (US); Circles, Projet Pangée, Montréal, QC (US); Between Fields and What Isn’t, No Place Gallery, Columbus, OH (US); Chambers, GRIMM, Amsterdam (NL); Beyond The Present: Collecting For The Future, The Christine Mack Art Collection, Southampton Arts Center, NY (US); Woman in a Rowboat, The Olivia Foundation, Mexico City (MX); Fruit and Fruition, curated by Angela Heisch, GRIMM, New York, NY (US); Abstraction(re)creation - 20 under 40, curated by Franck Gautherot and Seungduk Kim, Le Consortium, Dijon (FR); Wild, curated by Kathy Huang, Metropolitan Museum of Manila (PH); As above,so below, K11 Art Museum, Shanghai (CN) and As above, so below, GRIMM, New York, NY (US).
Heisch’s work can be found in the collections of the Aïshti Foundation, Beirut (LB); AkzoNobel Art Foundation, Amsterdam (NL); Center of International Contemporary Art, Vancouver (CA); Columbus Museum of Art, OH (US); Fundación Medianoche0, Granada (ES); H+ Museum, Hangzhou (CN); Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL (US); K11 Museum, Shanghai (CN); New Orleans Museum of Art, LA (US); Tel Aviv Museum of Art (IL); The Olivia Foundation, Mexico City (MX); Pond Society, Shanghai (CN); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (NL); The Whitworth, Manchester (UK); and the University of Warwick Art Collection (UK), among others.
