Vilma Gold are pleased to present a new exhibition of work by Sophie von Hellermann.
A nude stands in a 50�s interior whilst a stormy sky whirls outside. Beneath her a parquet floor has seemingly been transformed into a sea of fish bones. In the foreground stands a portrait of a woman in profile with a group of three roses laid out above. In a scene reminiscent of a De Chirico dreamscape, von Hellermann constructs a surreal landscape of uncertain borders. Painting in pigment and acrylic emulsion, von Hellemann once described her work �as if the canvas were carried past the actual events.� Yet, conversely, it often appears as if the works possess the weight of premonition, foretelling narratives laced with uncertainties. Von Hellermann�s paintings draw upon current affairs as often as they borrow from the imagery of classical mythology and literature. In �Obama� a mass of people watch as a newly elected president and his wife drive through the crowds in a black open top car. The evening light and flash of the car�s headlights give rise to both a heady sense of celebration and a lurking sense of danger. In �Evening Song� a mystical figure stares into a blazing sun, whilst shadows dance behind. In the midst of this a plane is visible darting across the evening sky.
"To the person in the bell jar, blank and stopped as a dead baby, the world itself is the bad dream." In Sylvia�s Plath�s �The Bell Jar�, Esther�s internal retort to her mother�s assertions that her madness was �just a bad dream�, transposes the concept of �reality� into another way of looking. Von Hellerman�s painterly imaginary is laden with ambiguity and uncertainty, yet here also the gift of perception can be seen in play.
Sophie von Hellermann is currently participating in �The Alliance�, at Do-Art gallery, Beijing and Seoul curated by Seungduk Kim and Franck Gautherot. She will be participating in a forthcoming group show at Base-Progetti per l�Arte, Florence, curated by Franz West and �Painting Now and Forever Part II� at Greene Naftali and Matthew Marks Gallery later this year.
