Heather Gordon Massages the Medium

Heather Gordon is an artist who’s interested in information. In data. And how it can be manipulated.

By the press, and by her own hand.

The Durham-based painter is just as likely to work on newsprint as she is on canvas. One series of her ink and gouche works is dedicated to deconstructing The New York Times – and reinterpreting its meaning.

Using ink – which is the original media choice of newspapers – she says she confines, relates and augments words and images are with graphic elements to emphasize the apparent bias of the news, as well as the overall shifting sands of current cultural beliefs surrounding hot button issues.

She calls it the series “Small Talk.”

“It’s about the message I’m receiving from the news that day,” she says. “I’ll distill or filter out the general overriding message. I’m interested in what the meaning in the message is – when is it meaningful and when is it data that’s just not relevant?”

Not surprisingly, she’s also a graphic designer. And she writes code for HTML. So her work basically lives at the intersection of art and science.

“I love it when they inform each other and work together,” she says.

Gordon is currently the artist liaison at Golden Belt, one of Durham’s last textile mills to be adaptively re-used. Situated at the corner of Main and Fayettevill Streets, the area draws a dense arts energy to downtown Durham with artist studios, live/work loft apartments, offices, restaurants, retail, and live music in one of the nation’s up-and-coming settings.

For more information, go to http://www.heather-gordon.com/