Helen Latham
University: Turps Banana Correspondence course
Graduation Year: 2016
New Blood Art Commentary
Notable Achievements 2023
See Investable Artists
Helen Latham’s paintings focus on the 21st century self: how do we relate to each other in a culture saturated by superficiality? Latham imbues her paintings with emotion through the careful use of colour and form. Art, as Latham shows, has a peculiar power to provoke emotion. It's what critic Clive Bell, in 1914, explained as the “aesthetic emotion”: the essential difference between art and all other objects. In Latham’s imagery, colour is used to affect an emotional response, and spatial devices are used to evoke a sense of belonging or alienation in the image’s narrative. In turn, each painting conjures memory to invoke empathy and contemplation of the self in direct relation to the other.
Helen's work was selected for the 2023 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.
Artist Statement
Figurative painting has a radical new role: it adds a layer of time, contemplation and introspection to an image, images that today are generally just consumed. What interests me is the human condition – what it feels like to be alive today. In our complex and often superficial culture, how do we relate, in a meaningful way, to one another? I often choose the human figure, the most obvious yet complicated source for inspiration, and look at the sense of belonging or alienation we all feel. Working from photographs and images from the Internet, modern-day technology is not rejected but incorporated into my working method. As a colour chemist I have studied, and am fascinated by, the physical and psychological effects colour has on our brain.
Group Exhibitions
(2023) Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London
(2022) Royal Academy summer exhibition, Royal Academy, London
Competitions, Prizes & Awards
(2019) Honorable Mention Award, Circle Foundation for the Arts