Jonathan Beer and Lily Koto Olive interview painter Julie Heffernan on the occasion of her exhibition Sky is Falling at P.P.O.W. Gallery, New York, on view through November 16, 2013.

Heffernan comments that "the figures (and everything else in the paintings for that matter) continue to make sense to me only when I think of them in the context of self-portraiture. Something about calling them that gives me permission to open up my brain and see what falls out of it, onto the canvas, and really own what comes out, believe in that world and invest in it." She adds: "Nature is powerful and unpredictable in a way that, when out of balance, is something distinctly to respect. I decided, in this body of work, to name names and point fingers, because painting is all I have to use as a placard to voice my concerns and fears. So I’m using it."