Helle Johansen-Baker
...a Danish artist, who came to the UK in 1988. I’ve lived in Leigh on Sea by the Thames Estuary since 2010 where my passion for painting really started when I enrolled on a local painting course in 2018. It was soon clear to me that I had found something special that totally resonated.
Creativity has always been the thing pulling me - working in a graphic design studio, portrait/wedding photographer, designing and making silk bandanas for dogs and pet photographer, all met with interest from the buying public.
Each stage of my journey has been a valuable, creative building block that has led to developing my unique approach in expressing my inner sensitivities.
Most of my work is created on cradled plywood panels (with wood batons) making them stand out nicely from the wall and easy to hang and I use a mixture of oil and coldwax, which I find works well to achieve the desired aesthetics. Mark-making is very important to me, so I scrape back the paint to reveal the layers beneath and gouge into the surfaces with various tools. My paintings are mostly abstract and multi layered, adding complexity, contrast and texture. Colours are a very important aspect. Recently I've been exploring more defined shapes, using acrylics, which gives the work another expression, but still retains the abstract form.
I take my inspiration from weathered surfaces that show the passage of time; I’m drawn to the decay of faded frescos, ancient walls, graffiti and street art, but also nature's palette and the outdoors. Working with oil and wax takes patience, as each layer takes at least a day to achieve a semi-dryness, ready for the next layer.
On a more personal level, I feel that my paintings are a metaphor for life, with all its imperfections and the scarring a lot of us carry around with us. When you scrape back the layers, you reveal a past, laying yourself bare.
Parallels can be drawn to the Japanese art of Wabi Sabi, a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection, giving you permission to be yourself. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is ‘imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete’.
Thank you for browsing :)
My studio/gallery is at Grainger Road industrial estate, unit 21A, Southend and you can contact me for a private viewing of my work.
If you’d like to discuss a creative project or would like me to do a commission, please feel free to get in touch - just click on the email address below :)
In the studio
Making the plywood panels before
painting can begin.
‘I must find a truth that is true for me’
Søren Kierkegaard
Social media
Exhibitions and upcoming events
2022 - 70thebroadway Gallery - The Broadway, Leigh on Sea
Artist Collective from 1st Aug 2022 - 1st Feb 2023
Guest artist at the Leigh Art Trail 3rd-11 Sept
2021 - ROY'S ART FAIR - Barge House, Southbank, Oxo Tower Wharf, London
SE1 9PH , 12-15th August 2021 Roy's Art Fair
2020 - 2021
Teamed up with local pop-up shop MAN CAVE Antiques UK in
Leigh on Sea, 96 The Broadway @mancaveantiquesuk
2020 - ROY'S ART FAIR - The Boiler House, Truman Brewery, London
8 - 11th October 2020 Roy's Art Fair
2020 - 'The Summer Show 2020' / 16th July - 30 July.
A group show, organised and curated by La Galleria Pall Mall, located
in the Royal Opera Arcade on Pall Mall, London
LaGalleria.org
2020 - Displaying artwork with Hansford & Sons Emerging Artist Platform
https://www.emergingartistplatform.com/hjbaker
2019 - 'Nordic Echoes' / @70 The Gallery, Leigh on Sea, Essex
Solo exhibition.
2019 - 70TheBroadway Gallery, part of a Christmas pop-up collective with
other local artists.
2018 - Essex Open, Beecroft Art Gallery, Southend on Sea.
2012 - Leigh Art Trail (abstract photography/collaboration with handbag
designer Carmen Woods).
2011 - Leigh Art Trail (abstract photography)
Press
2019 - Article/review in The Leigh Times
2019 - Article in the Echo Newspaper, Southend
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Describe your image
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