Helen Proctor - 2023 August 21 2023
Outré Gallery Fitzroy
28 Jul – 20 Aug 2023
Helen Proctor is an Australian artist who has just returned from living abroad in Europe. There she developed her focus on abstract landscape painting both in her studio and on large-scale mural projects.
Her current practice explores the use of colour and methods of abstraction to depict the emotional nostalgia that is revived from a personal connection to place.
For ten years she carved out a reputation within the Sydney street art scene for her stencils, paste-ups and murals. Now she returns to where it all began to showcase her new work and reconnect with her roots.
Artist statement:
For my latest exhibition at Outré gallery I have been creating a series of work that reflect my time spent staying at a small cabin in the Snowy Mountains. I’ve been traveling down to a friend's place in a town called Numeralla for the last couple of years. Being isolated from technology, with no phone service and surrounded by the Australian bush allows me to reset and slow down.
I tried to capture the changing light throughout the day and how the mood evolves from sunrise to sunset. The start of a day can carry so much potential as the world is waking up, although dusk always feels so sombre. The artworks are not exactly sight specific to the Snowy Mountains. I have always loved staying in small shacks surrounded by nature, a place with nothing to do but watch the landscape change and really fight that anxiety of always having to be ‘getting stuff done.’ It’s important for me to slow down sometimes and really take in the expanse of the sky and the landscape surrounding me.