Starting this Saturday, Cherry and Martin in Culver City is presenting its second solo exhibition of works by Robert Heinecken, who died in 2006. The exhibition focuses on a number of works from the second third of Heinecken's career, including color cibachrome print-throughs, videograms and the major installation, Waking up in News America. The opening reception is this Saturday, September 28; it's free and open to the public.

Heinecken's Waking Up in News America, from 1986, is a significant work that has not been seen in almost two decades. The room-sized installation investigates two of Heinecken's deep concerns: mass media and the affects of one particular form of mass media--the television. Waking Up in News America is a room in which every surface--the walls and floors, and the figure sitting in a chair are completely covered in images from television. The effect is to suggest that we are formed--in every way--by the omnipresent medium.

Trained as a graphic designer and printmaker, Heinecken was long interested in how our sense of self is shaped by news, pornography and advertising, and considered both broadcast and print media throughout his career. For Heinecken, the motif of the TV network newswoman is a favorite narrative foil who seemingly legitimates the madness of the media world.