The Approach is pleased to present Background, an exhibition of new paintings by Helene Appel.
Background suggests the periphery of vision, objects and landscape deemed secondary to our primary focus. The figure/background hierarchy is one which informs the fundamentals of painting. In Helene Appel’s paintings, however, it is the overlooked and everyday background objects which are given precedence over the (human) figure. Whether a pavement, a kitchen grater or a blanket, each of Appel’s subjects are bestowed with a striking sense of autonomy, painted with the attention and care usually associated with portraits.
Appel’s choice of subject matter is characterised by a perceived lack of sentimentality. Their abundance in our day-to-day activity relegates these objects to the background of our consciousness. Yet our attention to these objects is abruptly demanded by Appel’s decision to depict each on a 1:1 scale. In doing so, the works take on an almost sculptural quality, participating in the ‘real’ space they share with the viewer.
Her painting process is dictated by her subject matter, such that Sandpit, 2021 is rendered with single painted dots similar in size to actual grains of sand which, in turn, interweave with the natural grain of the exposed canvas. In Car Light, 2024 the shiny oil paint is precisely constructed like a technical drawing, while thinned watercolour paint is used to soak the canvas of her fabric works.
Through her distinctive application of paint, Appel captures the inherent beauty of these otherwise ordinary objects. Light reflects off the inner workings of the car light, bearing an architectural resemblance with its segmented and mirrored construction. Pavement (cobble stones), 2024 is almost abstract in its monumentality, recalling minimalist painters such as Agnes Martin with its muted colours and grid-like formation.
The meticulous detail Appel affords her subject matters is not simply illusionistic in the tradition of trompe l’oeil. Rather, Appel revels in the unfamiliarity of the familiar, decontextualising objects and denying the viewer narrative. It is a realism that compels the viewer to look and to contemplate, to question the importance we place on certain objects and yet deny to others, both in art as in life.
Helene Appel: Background press release
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