Scroll is pleased to present Quiet and Loud Worlds, a solo presentation of new paintings and works on paper by Cody Heichel, opening Saturday, November 22 from 6-8pm at 86 Walker Street. This is the artist’s first solo exhibition in New York City.

In Heichel’s paintings, observation becomes both an act of courage and concealment. Working from life in public and private spaces, the artist describes the experience as “confrontational” – a quiet tension between artist and subject, between the desire to see and the wish to go unnoticed, the known and the unknown. His figures, often turned away, asleep, or absorbed in their own worlds, inhabit scenes of fleeting intimacy. Faces are roughly formed, limbs dissolve into motion, and yet something essential remains – the pulse of ordinary life as it unfolds unguarded.

Heichel’s process begins in the open – in parks, cafes, streets – where he sketches quickly and discreetly, attuned to the energy of people as they move through shared spaces. He deftly captures scenes of intimate interiors, urban encounters, and leisurely moments in the garden or by water, recalling the early subway scenes by Mark Rothko, the enigmatic lakeside landscapes of Edvard Munch, or the dappled domestic vignettes by Édouard Vuillard. “By working surreptitiously,” he notes, “the people around me carry on as they would, which is what I’m interested in.” Later, in the solitude of his studio, these fragments expand into more personal narratives. What began as a transcription of reality merges with memory, emotion, and imagination.

Heichel recently discovered that his surname stems from an old German word meaning “to hide” or “to conceal.” It is a fitting etymology for a painter whose practice is rooted in quiet observation, whose impulse to withdraw paradoxically opens up new ways of seeing. In Heichel’s hands, concealment becomes a form of revelation – an invitation to look closely, and to recognize the beauty in the unnoticed.

Cody Heichel (b. 1984) currently lives and works in Cleveland, Ohio. He has exhibited with Care Of Gallery, Winnetka; the Faculty Club at the Ohio State University, Columbus; Brandt Gallery, Columbus; Hampstead Art Society, United Kingdom; Oxford Art Alliance; Columbus Museum of Art; Galleria-Taller Lolo, Matanzas, Cuba, among others. He completed residences at the Greater Columbus Arts Council / Columbus Museum of Art Dresden Exchange, Germany, and the Highlands Nature Sanctuary Plein Air Residency, Bainbridge.