Critic's Pick — Richard Heinsohn: 'The Ghost We Live By'

People like to throw the term “liminal” around a lot, but it’s the only word I can think of when I remember the last studio visit I had with artist Richard Heinsohn. It was right after the March 2020 tornado ripped through his neighborhood in East Nashville, and just a few days before the COVID pandemic lockdown began. Among the many things that have happened since then is that Heinsohn earned an MFA from Watkins College of Art at Belmont. Still, I can’t help but think back to that particular in-between era when I look at the new works he has at Bankers Alley, the downtown space that used to be 21c Museum. Take, for example, “The Future of Rocks 12,” a mixed-media work that looks like a litter-cluttered lunar surface, a dried-out riverbed and an ashy Pompeii-like relic all at once. It’s not a stretch to imagine it’s a historical document of mass destruction. The exploration of deep time is a flashpoint for this work. From Heinsohn’s exhibition statement: “Using video, photographs, wall reliefs and mixed-media paintings, this project invites viewers into an immersive and relational engagement with ideas of transformation through vast measures of time.”

Opening reception 6-9 p.m. March 14; through Aug. 1 at Bankers Alley

221 Second Ave. N.