Helen Calder, Space Line Colour

HELEN CALDER
Space Line Colour
24 June - 18 July, 2020

Opening 5.30-7.30pm Wednesday 24 June 2020

The painted friezes of European cathedrals may seem a long way from the abstract materiality of Helen Calder’s art but it was experiencing those spaces that cemented her interest in the connections between painting and architecture. There, painting defied gravity and worked with architecture for the shared purpose of articulating space.

Here, Helen’s Space Line Colour speaks directly to the three elements that make up her exhibition as a whole. Here, line intersects with and dominates space, becoming a stronger element than ever before with her steel lines waywardly disrupting any sense of a straight linearity. Here, colour, paint built in layers of various transparencies and opaqueness with visual and physical weight, playfully swoops through space triggering a multi-sensory, synesthetic experience for the viewer.

Helen has exhibited regularly since completing a Master of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury in 2003. Her work is held in a wide range of private and public collections and two large works are currently on display at Te Papa. Helen’s last exhibition in the gallery sold out and we are delighted to present this new body of work which extends her investigation of painting’s engagement with constructed space.

We are particularly pleased to welcome you to the opening of this exhibition - our second opening for the year! We hope you can come and celebrate with Helen and us.