Richard Heller Gallery is pleased to present Philip Akkerman - Self Portraits 1983 - 2024. This will be Akkerman's first solo exhibition at the gallery. Akkerman will be in Los Angeles for the opening reception at the gallery on Saturday, July 20, from 3-5 p.m. Pacific. We hope you will join us. About the Exhibition: The self-portrait takes up an extraordinary position in most artists' oeuvres. Traditionally they are rare depictions of the state of an artist at a certain point in its life. For Akkerman's however, his self is his sole subject. Already certain of his subject, Akkerman is free to focus on his technique. Almost methodically he recreates the image of himself using the wealth of painterly techniques made available through the whole of arts' history. Ranging in style from hyperrealism to abstraction and the intentionally naïve, his portraits display as much of himself as they do of art itself. The aging of man and art are combined into a philosophical collage of forms. About the Artist: Born 1957, Vaassen, The Netherlands Lives and works in The Hague, Netherlands Select solo exhibitions include Telephone, with Jameszoo, Nest, Den Haag; Philip Akkerman, Derek Eller Gallery, New York; Van een gek, voor een gek, TORCH gallery, Amsterdam; Philip Akkerman with Graphic Frames by Dennis Koot, BravinLee programs, New York; PHILIP AKKERMAN, A-M-G5, Glasgow; Philip Akkerman - The Mirror’s Secret, Gemeentemuseum, The Hague; Galerie Johnen & Schöttle, Cologne; Philip Akkerman, Witte de With center for contemporary art, Rotterdam; and Galerie De Lege Ruimte, Brughes. Select group exhibitions include Beheaded, Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica; Same Same, But Different, Galerie Atelier Herenplaats, Rotterdam; Pas de deux, Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht; Love Stories – Art, passion & tragedy, Hermitage, Amsterdam; UNLIMITED - Zelfportretten uit eigen collectie, Drents Museum, Assen; Some Kind of Monster Roster, Analog Diary, New York; DEPOT, Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; and Portraits, Tilton Gallery, New York. Philip Akkerman's paintings are in the collections of institutions such as: Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Centraal Museum, Utrecht; Drents Museum, Assen; Ferens Art Gallery, Hull; Kunstmuseum, Den Haag; Herzog Anton, Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig; Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC; Museum, Arnhem; Museum More, Gorssel; Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar; New Walk Museum & Art Gallery, Leicester; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Schunck Museum, Heerlen; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Teylers Museum, Haarlem; and Today Art Museum, Beijing. - Richard Heller Gallery is pleased to present BIJIJOO - Home. This will be BIJIJOO's first solo exhibition at the gallery. BIJIJOO will be in Los Angeles for the opening reception at the gallery on Saturday, July 20, from 3-5 p.m. Pacific. We hope you will join us. About the Exhibition: Home is a presentation of new works created by BIJIJOO over the past year, during a time of transition for the artist which included a move to a different city on the other side of the US. The work has an otherworldly bent and incorporates combinations of chaotic organic figuration surrounded by structure and pattern meticulously crafted around the figures. BIJIJOO's paintings result from process-driven experimentation with painting media and automatic drawing, using traditional and digital techniques. He builds mixed media layers to amplify interplays of light, color, and texture. Images are conjured from chaos, in a process akin to divination. The forms that take shape trend toward human and animal: grotesque exaggerations of life, monstrous cartoons, vanitas. Narratives emerge through these interactions, reflecting struggle, celebration, and introspection. The results depict experiences, interactions, and movements frozen in a personal space and time. In this body of work, the artist embarks on a search for what it means to be home, navigating relationships, questioning security, love, family and place. The works presented capture the culmination of this highly productive time for the artist and also reflect new beginnings combined with melancholy, nostalgia, and hope for the future. About the Artist: Born 1975, Atlanta, Georgia Lives and works in Asheville, North Carolina BIJIJOO was born in Atlanta, Georgia (USA) in 1975 and has lived in New York City; Seattle, Washington; Eugene, Oregon; and Portland, Oregon. BIJIJOO currently resides in the Asheville, North Carolina area. BIJIJOO has been painting and drawing since childhood. He has experimented with figurative, abstract and conceptual work in a variety of media, including writing, music and video. The artist diverged from art practice to pursue technical studies in mathematics, physics, computer science and chemistry, culminating in a Ph.D. in biophysics in 2008. He then returned to painting by creating several series of surrealist works, including The Presidential Ham, Celebrity Still Life, The Arthropod Companion, and Demonstrations. BIJIJOO's current work draws on his technical background in math, science and computer programming, as well as his daughter's imagination and love of monsters. Select solo exhibitions at Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles; Saatchi Yates, London; Villazan, Madrid; VINS Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan; and VINS Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan. Select group exhibitions at Artual Gallery, Beirut; Cohle Gallery, Paris, France; La Luz De Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles; Marian Cramer Projects, Amsterdam, Netherlands; GR Gallery, New York, NY; and Everyday Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium.