_PNG.png){kind=small}
Helen Uter
FRANCE
_p.png)
“I paint to capture feelings, moods, and stories that go beyond me.”
From an early age, Helen's art-loving father took her to the Louvre, European Museums, and other exhibition venues, awakening her emotions and developing her taste for art. As a teenager, she studied art at the Lycée Maximilien Vox in Paris and practiced life drawing at the Place des Vosges school.
The Propeller | Oil
7,000$
47 X 71
With this triptych, Helen Uter continues her confrontation of the animal world and human artifacts.
On the tarmac two cheetahs watch, attentive, at the foot of the imposing flying machine.
The title «Propeller» evokes energy and velocity, those of the two felines and those of the powerful engines designed by man.
In an unreal atmosphere with strong contrasts, everything seems both peaceful and disturbing.
Since the age of 17, Helen’s entire professional career has been dedicated to images: illustrator, art director, art history, and applied arts teacher. Alongside her professional activities, she has always carried out personal research in her spare time.
Yellow | Oil
3,746$
35 X 46
"Friends! My attachment to my homeland is very strong - the rope is now broken and we must go, like vagabonds, to a foreign land!"
George W. Harkins, district chief of the Choctaw Nation. 1832
Subway station, 90 th street, New York.
The turning point in the artist’s life came when, at the age of thirty, she came into contact with the works of Edward Hopper, ‘I realized that it was possible to express very personal feelings with a simple, unaffected painting style.’ Hence in 1995, she began painting, following this advice, ‘don't learn to paint, paint!’
“I have always been interested in visual arts, reading numerous books on the subject and regularly attending exhibitions.”
Helen Uter's figurative paintings combine realistic motifs with her own inventions. Her images are imaginary representations, metaphors that express truths beyond their visible form. They could be defined as ‘imaginary realism.’
Seagul &Crows | Oil
3,214$
26 X 36
But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing farther then he uttered—not a feather then he fluttered—
Till I scarcely more than muttered “Other friends have flown before—
On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before.”
Then the bird said “Nevermore.”
Edgar Allan Poe
The steel monster emerges from the bottom of the canvas in a plume of smoke. Relentlessly the machine runs its course. A pale greyhound flees, frightened.
The flexible and natural mechanics of the dog contrast with the complex and noisy mechanics of the locomotive.
Chiens N° 1 | Oil
2,678$
39 X 32
Her approach is similar to that of narrative figuration artists. Just like them, Uter’s aim is not to create ‘beautiful’ paintings, but images that convey meaning. In her work, Helen Uter likes to confront fiction and reality, nature and artifice.
“I let my brushes guide me; they teach me something about myself and the world too. It's a demanding job, a parallel universe, invasive, transcendent."
“The originality of my work probably stems from my American origins, influencing the choice of some of my subjects and the facture of my canvases.”“The originality of my work probably stems from my American origins, influencing the choice of some of my subjects and the facture of my canvases.”
She believes that a true artist is in some way overwhelmed by his creation. Picasso used to say: ‘If I know what I'm going to do, what's the point of doing it’? For her, that's the difference between the craftsman and the artist.
C17 | Oil
5,000$
45 X 64
"I like to be told what I have put into my work without knowing it..."
2013: Operation Serval in the direction of Mali. C17s go to Africa.
Her inspiration is fueled in particular by our technocratic civilization and its relationship with the natural world. As with the place of animals in this society, for instance. The stages of her life constantly influence her art — as time goes by, her awareness and questioning inspire her new subjects.
Chiens N°8 | Oil
3,746$
46 X 35
Hieratic, totemic dog, more worrying than threatening, against a backdrop of nothingness. Ears pricked, attentive, is he a guardian or a passer? Wouldn't it be Egyptian Anubis or Impou, "He who has the form of a wild dog"? Lord of the necropolis, God of funerals, weigher of souls. (JP Dubois)
Native American history and her travels in the United States inspired the Nowhere series, which deals with the integration of today's Indians into American society. Literature is also a source of inspiration — the power of Edgar Allan Poe's poem ‘The Raven’ has inspired some of her paintings. Her latest series, "Interférences", is a kind of visualization of space-time paradoxes.
Crows wander in a meadow where a Gee Bee seems abandoned. No human around. They gather, talk to each other, they own this territory. Their exchanges are inaccessible to us, their mystery remains complete.
Wings | Oil
4,300$
45 X 58
"I consider my images to have achieved their goal when they blur interpretations and sow confusion in the viewer."
Wee Saw | Oil
3,746$
46 X 35
"We have not given up our country; you have taken it." Sitting Bull
An Amerindian man got off the trolley bus. Cityscape of a San Francisco street. The direction of the bus, imaginary, is the name of an Indian chief Shoshone.
But the genesis of a painting remains a mysterious subject. An association of ideas, the confrontation of several photos that suddenly materializes a sensation. Some ideas come to her from dreams. This will lead her to sketch out research that will give rise to her next paintings. When asked to explain her paintings, she readily quotes Francis Bacon: ‘If you can say it, why bother painting it?’
Angel of peace vs. war plane. The roaring machine and the angel totally silent and motionless.
Mirage | Oil
3,746$
32 X 16
Among the many group and solo exhibitions in which she has taken part, the most recent include the 5th International Contemporary Art Fair 3 F in Paris, Annual Salon des Artistes Orleanais, Biennale 109, Bastille Design Center, Paris, Acquisition by the Greek Copelouzos family art museum, Collectors in the United States, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, and France and Rating (citation) by Christian Sorriano-Lausanne.
Landing Gear |Oil
2,357$
32 X 16
In this diptych, a group of ravens seems to take possession of the landing gear of the plane, and watch the horizon...
"Another miracle of the plane is that it plunges you directly into the heart of the mystery".
Antoine de Saint Exupéry
“In general, the way the world moves on influences my paintings.”
Not a solo artist yet? Subscribe to our solo exhibitions at TERAVARNA and share your art with the world!