Helena P-Stylianides.
I am a sculptor with an affinity for working mainly with wood.
Plain and coloured sculptures emerge from a reductive/constructive process.
Since the start of my arts practice, I have developed my work by exhibiting, but major work has been realised through residencies, public art commissions, and community projects in London, Cumbria, Essex, Greece and Lincoln.
Early work was concerned with colour and the 3D form, opposites, metaphysical interests: then due to opportunities working in outdoor settings it included a deeper awareness of scale, focus on natural and figurative forms, and a sense of place – the relationship of a place to its history and landscape.
Always my aim is about transformation – like alchemy – to transform the material so that’s its inner life is revealed more clearly.
Here the subconscious plays its part; it is accessed from various sources: dreams and symbols, myths, inner feelings, bodily awareness, memories and imagination.
It follows a narrative that can be playful and evocative, taking shape as a symbolic representation, or childhood associations, underpinned by use of colour.
At times, I divert from the outset to a more plastic working method by creating a papier-mâché construction.
Then the work tends to display surreal elements, challenging distinctions between colour, texture pattern and form.
An on-going theme has been to convey an expression of the personal as well as universal.
My current studio work reflects on personal & universal grief:
…transitions, paths, gateways, journeys and struggles
…life and death concepts & imagery.
Ultimately, the challenge lies in making the most of what is to hand, so that the process (as in life)is the all-important learning experience, and the sculpture, as the vehicle, is the by-product.
