Then Play On

“My paintings are neither abstract nor figurative, neither gestural nor compositional. Layers of artistic languages overlap and deny each other. In the same spirit, my wish for communication (or anti-communication) is trapped within the relevance of the artwork.”

Helling’s paintings are conceived by building, erasing and re-working the surfacein an entangled dance back and forth between artist and painting. Over time, the composition is forged through this process which is both additive and subtractive, considering destructiveness and productivity as equal variables.

Of late, alphabetic letters have played a more important role in Helling’s work. By allowing a letter to compositionally dominate the surface of a painting, Helling empowers the visual form of language while simultaneously undermining the language itself. As one moves closer to the painting the symbolic quality of the letter is obliterated and the abstract nature of what is essentially a line against a ‘ground’ is exposed. A harmony occurs, and a conflict is established between the semiotic meaning and the abstract quality of the form.