Helga Groves Second Nature

9 November –
7 December 2024

Sutton Gallery is pleased to announce Second Nature, a solo exhibition of new and recent works by artist Helga Groves. From weavings to Perspex sculptures, pencil drawings to multi panel-paintings, Second Nature represents the culmination of a research project the artist undertook in 2022 at the geologically significant Pilbara region in Western Australia. This body of work is then brought in dialogue with a series of paintings that explore the abstract potentiality of rewilded rivers and sedimentation processes in Greenland and Finland. Considering themes of absence and ephemerality together with growth and renewal throughout, Second Nature reflects on intimate observations from each climatic region.

Engaging with a variety of media, Groves reflects on the immanence of abstraction as an apposite tool to characterise and make sense of our natural world’s ever-changing material fabric. Groves’ refined studio techniques and applications express a harmony of natural phenomena that stretches across billions of years and thousands of miles. By negating direct pictorial representation, these enigmatic expressions of place and time instead utilise systems, grids and cross-sections to reflect on otherwise inestimable environmental stimuli.

Running concurrently alongside Second Nature Groves will present Lithic Elements (Pilbara Series), a selection of photographic collages at Sutton Projects that cite the artists extensive research into the geological specificities of the Pilbara region.

Artist Biography

Deep geological time, ineffable natural phenomena and geophysical processes are enmeshed in the meticulous practice of Helga Groves. Working across painting, sculpture, drawing and animation, Groves rigorously investigates the defining physical properties of ancient matter and fleeting environmental episodes. Her dextrous and deliberate approach to mark making registers the minutiae of place into a realm of abstraction. Through a careful, mediated balance of topographical patterns and tonal layers, Groves’ compositions transpose the rhythmic flow and luminosity of her ever-evolving subject matter. 

Groves’ practice is fuelled by an unyielding commitment to extensive and site-responsive research. First-hand observation of natural environments spanning multiple biomes remains intrinsic to the evolution of her practice. Divergent formal arrangements are attuned to the extremes of natural phenomena and climatic conditions. Often employing a grid-like framework, Groves’ latticing modes of display facilitate the interlacing of personal and cultural references. Her abstractions convey a uniquely layered sense of place, while each body of work mirrors the encompassing and often heterogenous spirit of field research: detailed pencil sketches articulate ancient rocks, Perspex forms simulate the fluorescence of natural light travelling through water, pigmented canvases incrementally reveal layers of geological processes, woven fishing line mimics undulations of water and crystallisations of ice. Fluidity characterises Groves’ surfaces, whereby all-encompassing patterns outstretch and respire through the rhythm of gradated colour and meshing of brushstrokes. Permeating both sensorially and conceptually, Groves conjures vivid memories and forecasts speculations of the physical experience of place.

A first-generation Australian of Finnish and English heritage, Groves was born in Ayr, Queensland in 1961. Now living and working in Naarm/Melbourne, Groves has exhibited frequently throughout Australia and overseas for over thirty-five years. Groves completed a Bachelor of Arts, Graduate Diploma and a Master of Visual Arts at Sydney College of the Arts (between 1987 and 2000, respectively), and in 1997, she was awarded the prestigious Moët & Chandon Australian Art Fellowship, resulting in a year-long residency in France. With field research constituting an integral aspect of Groves’ practice, the artist has completed additional residencies at institutions in Hanoi, VN; Paris, FR; Helsinki, FI; New York, USA; Bundaberg, AU; Nowra, AU; and the Pilbara, AU.

In 1999, Groves was included in the acclaimed Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT3) at the Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane. Her work has been shown in important curated exhibitions at institutions including the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Artspace, Sydney; Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane; Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Canberra; UQ Art Museum, Brisbane; Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne and Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, among others. 

Examples of Groves’ work can be found in significant public and institutional collections throughout Australia, including the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Brisbane; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; UQ Art Museum, Brisbane; Monash University Art Collection, Melbourne; University of Western Sydney, Sydney and Macquarie University, Sydney, among other public and private collections. 

Artist’s profile

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