Mary Heilmann combines elements of abstraction and Conceptual art with the bright colors, wit, and playfulness of the best Pop artists. Among the preeminent abstract painters of her generation, Heilmann creates works that are both formally adventurous and richly evocative, marked by loose brushwork and bold patterning. In addition the painting, Heilmann also works in sculpture, creating small ceramic works that echo the bold palette of her canvases. As the artist has stated, "I'm not adverse to gorgeousness, I just want it to look like it happened without a struggle." More recently, the artist has incorporated chairs of her own design into installations of her works, encouraging viewers to conceive of them as all-encompassing environments.

Heilmann's work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions, including the 2007-08 traveling retrospective "Mary Heilmann: To Be Someone," which appeared at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, the Contemporary Art Museum Houston, the Orange County Museum, and the Wexner Center for the Arts. She was included in the 2008 and 1989 Whitney Biennials and the landmark exhibition "WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution" (2007-08) at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art and MoMA PS1.