By EC Flamming, November 10, 2025
Anyone can achieve an aesthetic, but good fashion photography offers a narrative. It’s easy (or, at the very least, easier) to create a certain look or styling convention that becomes associated with the photographer as a brand. Much harder, however, to tell a story. The goal of the best fashion photography is to take fashion houses and the clothes, accessories, and lore that come with them, and elevate them into a larger conversation in the cultural zeitgeist. In the work of Erik Madigan Heck, on view at Jackson Fine Art in Atlanta through December 23, the narrative doesn’t always elevate so much as stall, rehashing familiar tropes and outdated ideas of beauty, race, and culture.
The work is, of course, very pretty. Heck’s photographic talents are in high demand, and he boasts such clients as Comme des Garçons, Gucci, and The New York Times Magazine. He pulls from a jumble of colorful art historical references, including the slickness of Pop Art, the movement of Edgar Degas paintings, the drama of Renaissance compositions, and the geometric exuberance of Gustav Klimt. Art history seems to exist for Heck as an open invite for aesthetic inspiration.
Heck employs color to great advantage in his work. In “Valentino Laid Down” (2024), impossibly saturated blood reds and peaches on embroidered clothes are contrasted against (also impossibly) white skin and a deep blue backdrop as models drape over one another. In “Vogue Italia Reconstructed” (2023), maybe the most Degas-y of the works on display, a woman wears a royal blue ballgown. The photograph has been digitally manipulated to appear painterly, with splotches of orange, green, and burgundy framing the woman as she glances over her shoulder. Heck’s use of color can also be more subtle, but still effective. A simple dash of bright red lipstick in “Junya Watanabe Hat” (2024), one of the strongest works on display, pops out in an otherwise stark and deeply geometric work.
Through their work, consciously or unconsciously, a photographer tells you their taste—what they find interesting, what they value, what they like or dislike. Judging from the works on display, Heck’s taste is clear. He likes striking color, obviously, particularly in uber-saturated, draping fabric. He employs florals—in women’s hair, on clothes, and in the background. In “Lindsey Wixson” (2024), the model is almost taken over by florals and plants, with slightly out-of-focus, painted vines engulfing her as she twirls, head thrown back in ecstasy, in a white gown adorned with blue beaded flowers.
Beyond florals and color pops, Heck enjoys other cultures, as long as he can aestheticize them. Admittedly, it is a strategy that is endemic throughout the fashion industry, not just in the work of Heck. In “The Second Tapestry” (2024), a platinum blonde woman stands with her back to the audience, showing off a cape adorned with Middle Eastern-inspired illustrations, and words such as “Turkestan,” “Turkey,” and “Iraq” written in looping cursive. In “Crayon Hair” (2024), a woman with make-up vaguely reminiscent of some traditional Asian cultures partially covers her face, wearing a turban made of multi-colored string.
Heck values whiteness. His models are all white, shockingly white, impossibly white, vampiric white. Their porcelain skin, bone-like, acts as a contrast to the hyper-saturated clothing, or practically disappears into a white background. To Heck, race exists in photography only so far as decoration.
What story is Heck telling us in these works? One in which context is removed from art history, leaving only the most basic tenants of a certain look. One in which race and culture exists for what they can provide in terms of vibe. One in which florals and rich colors are prized as a kind of ultimate beauty trick, in which beauty itself is confined within such narrow parameters that it runs the risk of squeezing itself out of existence. It’s a familiar story, told time and time again in the fashion industry. Perhaps one that should go out of print.
EC Flamming is a writer, editor, and curator. She is the Managing Editor of GULCH Magazine in Atlanta and has written for ART PAPERS, BURNAWAY, Art Basel, and more.
ERIK MADIGAN HECK "Lindsay Wixson, The Tapestry" 2024. Courtesy of the artist and Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta.
ERIK MADIGAN HECK "The Tapestry, The Tapestry" 2024 Courtesy of the artist and Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta.
ERIK MADIGAN HECK "Valentino Laid Down, The Tapestry", 2024 Courtesy of the artist and Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta.
ERIK MADIGAN HECK "Vogue Italia Reconstructed, The Tapestry," 2023 Courtesy of the artist and Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta.