Painted during the second global lockdown during COVID-19, "PARIS 2020" showcases the trials and tribulations of an emerging American artist's first introduction to the European art scene, and the city and culture of France itself. Composed of 23 works on canvas, spanning between the subject matter of the HEES Mark and abstraction, to the Basquiat-like "AKT" works, "PARIS 2020" is a combination of HEES' artistic styles.
Drugs, decadence, elitism, criticism, and the art scene itself are all questioned in dramatic works such as Flying High (75x45), while simultaneously, the bright and airy colors of Paris in Springtime are epitomized in the abstract March. Influences from fashion, the city, photography, and self-exploration are all displayed alongside one another, in the artist's noir night-time long-exposure photographs of an empty, and eerie, Paris. Sometimes finding himself in loneliness, and at other times bliss.
"PARIS 2020" sparked intense debate amongst the European art scene at the height of the global pandemic. The works placed into top tier foundations and collections in Europe, before being repatriated to the United States, where many were snapped up by eager American collectors.
