no title Painting

Hélène Richard, a self-taught artist who began working with representational oil painting in 1996, has since found herself a niche in minimal abstraction. In acrylic and spray paint on wood and canvas, Hélène channels the pursuit of abstract expressionism, as her numerous layers of transparent scratched and painted surfaces encapsulate momentary experiences and metaphysical territories. A strong affection for color pairs with a meditative stance on the quality and experience of windows or gates, passageways, walls and corridors. Muted pastels, overlade with crimson and charcoal, forge geometric, overlapping rectangles that appear as residues or films of qualitative decay. Occasionally, we see the artist branching out into three-dimensionality, cutting and sewing raw canvas. On these occasions, Hélène applies her painterly means - color, structure, form and scale - to near sculptural ends. Her methods, which she considers "Food for the Soul," are inspired in part by her frequent travel to India. Hélène Richard was born in 1967 in the French Alps, where she currently lives and works.