PRESS RELEASE

Helen Eager  – tripartite

utopia art sydney

Oct 17 – nov 14 2009

Brave would be a word to describe this exhibition. These new paintings by Helen Eager are excellent examples of the power of pure abstraction. This territory is not for the faint hearted and certainly is not popular or on any curatorial agenda.

The discipline needed to make such ‘simple’ works is not immediately apparent, but careful viewing reveals the beautiful painting skills that craft these fresh works.  The coloured areas are slowly coaxed into being with layer upon layer of transparent glazes. The white ground is a smooth and seamless space.

Eager has always played with colour and light and these paintings are perhaps the closest she has come to distilling that essence. The colours play with each other, the shapes play on the ground, and the relationships shift and change.

Abstract artists sometimes give poetic or referential titles to their work as an entry point for the viewer, and Eager has in the past, but for this exhibition, Helen Eager has boldly given her vibrant abstractions three digit codes, forcing the viewer to make their own decisions as to what they see and how they feel.

A highly recommended exhibition.

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