Heather Hunter
1969– · American painter and former adult film actress
Heather Keisha Hunter (born in the Bronx, New York, in 1969) is an American painter who became known mainly for her career in the adult film industry. Her painting, which is less widely documented, is part of a broader artistic path that also includes music, writing and acting.
Hunter began painting portraits of family members as a child. She studied design and illustration at the High School of Fashion Industries in New York City and, during her teenage years, briefly took part in illegal graffiti art under the name Ms. 45, a practice she gave up after being cited by the police. She later joined a special workshop led by the street artist Keith Haring.
Her public profile as a painter took shape in June 2006, when she opened Artcore-NYC, a gallery in the DUMBO neighbourhood of Brooklyn. Her "Hunter Collection" paintings were the gallery's first exhibition. The space was located at 111 Front Street, and by 2007 it was still searching for a new location.
Her style and body of work are poorly documented in the available sources, so her legacy as a painter is hard to assess with precision. Her name is mostly associated with the gallery she founded and with her attempt to establish herself in the New York art world by an unusual route.