Figuratively Speaking | Helen Johannessen

Artist’s statement

As a fine artist, I am interested in the visceral and experiential effects of how we encounter our habitats and the objects or outlooks within it; a close-up view, a direct scene or panorama, both from near and far away, differing angles and perspectives.

To stand in front of something and shift into the unconscious; enter a state of reverie, to feel removed from our immediate surroundings. 

As a trained ceramicist, a sensory and visual approach to material, form and texture describes the feeling of how I work with casting, using plaster, paint and even photography. I aim to investigate and explore beyond my knowledge of the intrinsic characteristics of materials and processes. 

To see something and want to touch it; to hold, feel enjoyment in the surface; the weight, warmth and smoothness. 

I deliberate how emotional environments and conditions shape our observations and affect our physicality, through colour, light and dark, shadows and form. Colorimetry and metamatics fascinate me and how individuals see or interpret their world.

Sometimes using materials that start as liquid and solidify through their process, I manipulate surfaces, making illusionary and visually stimulating work. I reflect on the results and how they can shift with light and movement; persuading the viewer to engage with a world of intimate, imaginative figurative landscapes through familiar materials. 

I use intuitive thinking and the relationship of human connections between art and making. I explore how my creative voyage can affect the relationship of the physical state by focusing on details and detail.

Zsuzsi Roboz Scholarship exploration has included - metalwork, paint, paper, plaster, perspex, latex, canvas, camera, apps.