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.
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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.
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