Helene Billgren: hj盲rta h/heart h
H as in heaven. H as in hell. H as in hurdles, hurdles to cross. H as in heart. H as in Helene. The letter h keeps following Helene Billgren and it is a signature that has sneaked into, as well as becoming a part of, her work. heart h allows the H to take place and like an arrow of love it pierces all the works in the exhibition. It comes from the heart and its sender is Helene Billgren.
"Failing can pave the way for something better, not as a truth but as an opportunity. I believe I see myself where I once started. Gothenburg, paper, cones from firs and my letter H." (H. Billgren, 2014.)
What can seem ugly can instead, upon closer beholding, be pretty. And vice versa. It is a balancing act that Helene Billgren grappels with, but also forces her to use unconvetional, 鈥漧ow鈥� materials and recycling the failures. Last years collaboration with Grafikens Hus resulted, apart from the exhibition at Wan氓s Konst, in a pile of discarded prints. These prints are the starting point for what she chooses to call hybrids. The sheets are processed, drawed upon with charcoal and by that new stories are formed 鈥� stratified on one another with visible retakes. The works grow out in the room with colorful, decorative fringes made of her new favourite material, bast lace, and forgotten color wads taken from the studio floor. The studio and the work process move into the gallery space and a whole wall is covered in masonite. This raw material which she uses to paint upon becomes a backdrop, but also functions as a frame for the drawings. Painted objects, croched collars in bast lace and a wallpaper, printed from a photo original of the studio table, become part of the installation.
Painting, the focus of Helene Billgren鈥檚 recent exhibitions, is here a part of a greater wholeness. Paintings where dreamy and misty landscapes move towards more and more abstraction. It contains something romantic, but also threatning and sad. Movements and uncertenty in the pictures give the impression that the figures are on the run. The muted and ultramarine colors are pervading, and are partly inspired by covers of the The Famous Five-Books (Author: E. Blyton, covers by H. Baldorf Berg). In the dramatic acrylic landscapes, layered in thin veils, there are tiny carved and drawn details so small you can hardly recognize them. As a secret code, a sos signal in the dark.
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H as in heaven. H as in hell. H as in hurdles, hurdles to cross. H as in heart. H as in Helene. The letter h keeps following Helene Billgren and it is a signature that has sneaked into, as well as becoming a part of, her work. heart h allows the H to take place and like an arrow of love it pierces all the works in the exhibition. It comes from the heart and its sender is Helene Billgren.
"Failing can pave the way for something better, not as a truth but as an opportunity. I believe I see myself where I once started. Gothenburg, paper, cones from firs and my letter H." (H. Billgren, 2014.)
What can seem ugly can instead, upon closer beholding, be pretty. And vice versa. It is a balancing act that Helene Billgren grappels with, but also forces her to use unconvetional, 鈥漧ow鈥� materials and recycling the failures. Last years collaboration with Grafikens Hus resulted, apart from the exhibition at Wan氓s Konst, in a pile of discarded prints. These prints are the starting point for what she chooses to call hybrids. The sheets are processed, drawed upon with charcoal and by that new stories are formed 鈥� stratified on one another with visible retakes. The works grow out in the room with colorful, decorative fringes made of her new favourite material, bast lace, and forgotten color wads taken from the studio floor. The studio and the work process move into the gallery space and a whole wall is covered in masonite. This raw material which she uses to paint upon becomes a backdrop, but also functions as a frame for the drawings. Painted objects, croched collars in bast lace and a wallpaper, printed from a photo original of the studio table, become part of the installation.
Painting, the focus of Helene Billgren鈥檚 recent exhibitions, is here a part of a greater wholeness. Paintings where dreamy and misty landscapes move towards more and more abstraction. It contains something romantic, but also threatning and sad. Movements and uncertenty in the pictures give the impression that the figures are on the run. The muted and ultramarine colors are pervading, and are partly inspired by covers of the The Famous Five-Books (Author: E. Blyton, covers by H. Baldorf Berg). In the dramatic acrylic landscapes, layered in thin veils, there are tiny carved and drawn details so small you can hardly recognize them. As a secret code, a sos signal in the dark.
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