Statement
Helen Waldburger paints moving images, filled with light and shadow. In different opacities with oil, oil pastels and untamable watercolour, she conjures stories of the everyday, of ancient myths and witches, above all of women, like herself, on see-through organza, thereby creating two planes. Frustrated with the lack of movement in static images in painting, she discovered a way to create an interplay between the painted motives on a see-through fabric, and the shadows on the wall. The transparency of the material refers to the honesty with which Waldburger approaches her work and her storytelling: being transparent as being honest. The visible stretcher bars connect the two planes and create a frame within a frame, a feature in painting since modernity. By revealing the materiality of the wooden bars however, Waldburger is revealing a secret of what is happening behind the image, behind the painting, the inner life and the practicalities of it, demystifying and contesting the classical canon of painting. Animated by the light, the static images begin to move. Her images have their own life, beyond their life in the studio, they are not finite: „The works exist without me ever being present anymore“. The stories summoned by the artist live on, when someone is turning on the light, as the earth is rotating, in sun and in moonlight.
Bild: „Untitled (HUGS)„, 2020, Watercolour on organdie, 70x 80 cm
„When Leda Killed the Swan“, 2019
Watercolour and oil on organdie, 90x 80 cm
All of these works were created back to back, they all started from the story of Leda and the swan. What especially intrigued me about the story of leda is her depiction in art through the times. there are hundreds of drawings, paintings and sculptures of that famous rape mostly by men. when looking at these visual representations of that moment, leda is often depicted as enjoying herself. I wanted to create a series of paintings that reinvented moments before and after the rape, change her story and reclaim it- from the perspective of a woman.
Bild: „Dancing in your skies„, 2020, Watercolour on organdie, 50x 70 cm
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