Degree: Fine Art
University: Bath Spa University
Graduation Year: 2024
Elizabeth Helder's "Forms Through Time" is a sophisticated exploration that integrates various artistic movements while establishing her unique voice. Her sculptures and collages deconstruct and reassemble familiar everyday objects like combs, coins, knives, bowls, and mirrors, challenging conventional perspectives through techniques reminiscent of Cubist fragmentation and geometric abstraction.
Helder's approach engages deeply with the materiality of objects and their historical significance. By folding and denting coins, she symbolizes society's transition to a cashless world, marking the end of an era for physical currency. This act of transformation echoes the Futurist fascination with technological progress and industrialization, yet Helder's work hints at a reverence for the past. Her juxtaposition of handcrafted qualities with industrial elements reflects the shift from singular, handmade items to mass-produced objects, creating a nuanced dialogue that transcends time.
In her two-dimensional collage works, Helder analyses objects by breaking them down into basic shapes and repeating these forms, a process that aligns with Cubist practices. This method allows her to explore the essential nature of everyday items, questioning why they need to be replaced if they have changed so little over time. Helder's work invites viewers to contemplate the historical and future significance of these objects, emphasising their essential nature and the ease with which they are deemed replaceable.
Helder's sophisticated blend of Cubist and Futurist principles, combined with her unique perspective, creates a poignant reflection on what endures and what is lost in our pursuit of progress. Her work draws intriguing parallels with contemporary artists like Rachel Whiteread and Simon Starling, who also engage with the materiality of objects to explore broader themes of change and continuity.
Whiteread's exploration of the materiality of objects and their historical significance is evident in Helder's approach. Whiteread's casts of negative spaces uncover hidden histories, much like Helder's work hints at the enduring value of everyday items amidst technological advancements. Similarly, Simon Starling's practice of material metamorphosis, where objects are recontextualized to reveal new narratives, resonates with Helder's transformation of coins to symbolise societal shifts.
Elizabeth Helder's "Forms Through Time" is a captivating body of work that integrates various artistic influences, allowing viewers to make their own reflections on the evolving nature of everyday objects. Her sophisticated approach honors the past while engaging with the future, making her a distinct and compelling voice in contemporary art.
"Forms Through Time" explores functional objects that have either ceased in time or continued through it. The work sculpturally investigates charcoal huts, fishing nets, bowls, and knives alongside other works. I am fascinated by civilizations' churning of technology from the craft movement through to and after the industrial revolution. The work is inspired by the forever-shifting objects that are continuously being replaced by something “better” or more efficient. Then there are the objects which have changed so little in form, such as combs, coins, knives, bowls, and mirrors, which have survived close to their original form for hundreds of years. I love how we still comb our hair, use bowls as vessels, look in mirrors, cut with knives, and fish with nets just as our ancestors did hundreds of years ago. Within the work, coins are explored; they are folded and dented to represent the current transition into a cashless world, the end of another form’s timeline replaced by a new technology. The simple designs of the objects give me broad artistic freedom; I enjoy breaking down the key elements of an object such as the line, body, pattern, texture, color, or composition. I use these components as a starting point for abstract sculpture and work with handcrafted materials alongside artificial ones. "Forms Through Time" is a body of work exploring ideas of singular and handmade to lifeless and mass-produced, crafted and factory-made, old and new, the human touch and the machine cut, and the shifting of technology.