
Apertures of Time #1
, 2020–2021Iridescent oil paint and medium on wood
48 x 48cm
Helga Groves’ meticulous and sensitive practice encompasses painting, three dimensional forms, drawing and animation. Her works are informed by rigorous investigations into geophysical processes and natural phenomena across the vast expanse of geological time. Carefully balancing topographical patterns, colour and tonal layers, her compositions transpose the rhythmic flow and luminosity of her subject matter. The underlying power of Groves’ work lies in its ability to permeate the senses and minds of the viewer, conjuring vivid memories of the physical experience of place.
Select solo exhibitions: Patterns from the heart of a planet, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 2019; Looking at Time, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 2017; Tremor of Form, Milani Gallery, Brisbane, 2017; Optical Terrane, William Wright Artist Projects, Sydney, 2015; Suspended Animation, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 2014; Geomorphic, Milani Gallery, Brisbane, 2013; Looking through an ocean of air, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 2011; Microclimate, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 2009; Divining Water, Gitte Weise Gallery, Berlin, 2008.
Select group exhibitions: Perceptions of Time, GOMA, Brisbane, 2020; f_OCUS, Counihan Gallery, Melbourne, 2019; Anthropocene, R & M McGivern Prize, Maroondah Federation Estate Gallery, Melbourne, 2018; Sights Unseen: Recent Acquisitions from the Moreland Art Collection, Counihan Gallery, Melbourne, 2018; Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, 2018; Chaos and Order, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, 2018; Limitless Horizons: Vertical Perspective, QAGOMA, Brisbane, 2017; Quiddity, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, 2016; National Works on Paper, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Mornington, 2014; NEW 2011: Selected recent acquisitions, UQ Art Museum, Brisbane, 2012; Ten Years of Contemporary Art: The James C. Sourris AM Collection, QAGOMA, Brisbane, 2011; Australian Art for Berlin, Gitte Weise Gallery, Berlin, 2009; Points of Departure, Tobey Fine Arts, New York, 2007.
In her rendering of natural phenomena, Groves does not describe an easily recognisable world. Obsessively, she weaves and writes the deep currents that lie beneath surface appearances. As she draws in the net of her vision, her trawl is revealed as an interconnecting energy, an energy which is linked to closely observed nature but which also transcends it. Hers is a project which imagines and rewrites the world. Her find, her gemstone, is one of endless tumescence.
Michele Helmrich, 'Fenestrations of darkness and light and endless becoming', catalogue essay, 2004