Helene Appel

WHEAT GRAINS

2013
oil on linen
30 x 18 inches

German-born artist Helene Appel’s work has a spectacular feeling of repetition, rhythm, and labor associated with domestic ideas not typically connected to painting. She renders her subjects to exact scale, clutched by delicate shadows only resting slightly off the surface of an unprimed canvas. In Wheat Grains, Appel’s technique shows a visual investment in the quality of each grain. Unlike a traditional still life, the aerial view challenges the traditional painterly representations and takes on an abstract quality. Appel’s intention is not to deceive, but to evoke the sincere and elegant presence of the object. Appel lives and works in London. She has had solo exhibitions in London, Norwich, Moscow, Berlin, and Hamburg. Her work has been included in group shows at Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, and the Contemporary Art Society, London.