Helen Calder, Yellow Skin (125 fl.oz), 2009
Acrylic, enamel & stainless steel, 770 x 1400mm 

http://www.minusspace.com/2009/08/helen-calder-yellow-orange-red-black-city-art-rooms-auckland-new-zealand/

September 2-26, 2009

In Helen Calder’s most recent works, she has been partially or completely removing the traditional planar support and exploiting the plastic potential of the paint medium and the real space, rather than illusory space, paint and colour can occupy.

The materiality of the medium of paint, particularly its plasticity and weight and its ability to define surface has been her key focus since 2000.

There are four works in this exhibition where loose skins of paint hang on stainless steel rods. The colours of the four works- yellow, orange, red, black form the title of the exhibition. These colours are ordered in the title according to their relative visual weight – yellow being the lightest and black the heaviest. The titles of the work include the actual fluid weight of the paint that forms the skin.

Response: Calder is similar to a lot of the artists that I am interested in with her strong focus on materiality in her art practice. She ventures further into exploring the characteristics of paint and takes it a step further by using the paint as her support. She   reveals the ability of paint to form a solid sheet of colour that hangs similar to a sheet of plastic, with its flexible and shiny surface. 

Exploring the strengths of materials is one idea i am very interested in and I am keen to try use the solid state of paint to my advantage and incorporate my interest of mark making. 

Note to self: Ideas to try: 

1) embossed paint skins: engraving metal or plastic with my mark making and pouring paint (try adding PVA glue) to mould to the textured surface to create an embossed paint skin.