Helen Calder

Artist Helen Calder makes vibrant three-dimensional paintings that investigate the cross between painting and object. She explores the limits of the medium offering a direct physical engagement with the materiality of paint, its weight, tactility and malleability and colour. These paint-skins, as she calls them, hanging in space unfettered by traditional supports or stretchers are at the heart of Calder’s practice. The ‘freed’ paint objects have fronts, edges and backs and colour all the way through. She experiments with her supports – from rubber cords, to steel frames, hooks and rods, all an integral part of the work. Recently Calder’s colour palette has broadened and there’s greater depth, with paint built up through multiple colour layers of various opacities and folded to reveal the layers. The pliability and weight of the paint is evident in the fall of each poured skin. Subtle textures in her surfaces, created through the use of conventional paint brushes and sponges, revel in both the liquid viscosity and tactile plasticity. 

Recent exhibitions include Kaleidescope: Abstract Aotearoa, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, 2018, Qualia 760-620 λ, Enjoy Public Gallery, Wellington, 2014, Burster Flipper Wobbler Dripper Spinner Stacker Shaker Maker, curated by Justin Paton and Felicity Milburn, Christchurch Art Gallery, 2014; and Unpainted, Blue Oyster Gallery, Dunedin 2014.