Helena Goldwater 

Statement

 

Introduction

My performances last many hours, often existing as installations, and my paintings can take months to complete – this dedication to process and duration is a way of exploring how concepts can be developed over time, transforming the everyday into an extraordinary act. 

 

Performances

Characteristically, my performances feature the materials of the body, for example, water, milk and hair, within which I immerse myself in relation to a space. Sometimes I focus on a detail of the body, such as my mouth, other times the materials dominate the body - all directly reference the erotic alongside the grotesque, and the epic and uncanny. Sometimes I am silent, sometimes I connect with audience members, either through words or actions which offer moments of exchange.

 

I am concerned with what is hidden, unseen, and how it is both impacted upon and by a space, through the revelation and/or transformation of materials. The internal body, if you like, in relation to the space’s external body.

 

Paintings
I create performances on paper.

 

At first glance my paintings are delicate and obsessive watercolours of plant forms. Extravagant, tantalizing and intense, their attention to detail appears to record nature as a perfectly evolved endeavour. But on closer reading they reveal perverted and hybridised forms, sometimes inferring human entrails; they begin to question representations of truths of the natural order, and in doing so offer the unidentifiable, in between states of being. This allows for a sinister quality to emerge, alongside a humour (especially offered in the titles).

 

The viewer is encouraged to come close to the works, thereby experiencing an intimacy similar to the artist’s proximity during the process of painting. A direct connection to the audience is desired, attempting to bring an immediate exchange between viewer and maker offering a closer communication.

 

 

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