Pilar Corrias is pleased to present Sophie von Hellermann: A Midsummer Night's Dream, an exhibition of twelve new paintings.
Sophie von Hellermann’s paintings originate as projections of her imagination. A small kernel into her mind which is blown up onto a large canvas. These projections become a background for a shadow dance where something that is conjured comes into existence. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream we are invited into a series of imaginary vignettes that are inspired by the foibles of wonderment and love. The series was completed amidst the dreamlike experience of her lockdown in the English countryside. von Hellermann felt a sense of urgency to paint during this period of global sickness and isolation and sickness The parallels between her experience of sleeping, resting and madness and Shakespeare’s play lead Von Hellermann to be inspired by the environment that surrounded her; the woods amidst the dew drops on the sweetly scented flowers, the joy of spring and summer at the same time as this period of uncertainty and death.
As with Shakespeare's play, von Hellermann’s process confronts the struggle between reality and imagination. The dialectical problem she faces each time she paints. Applying ancient pigments in large swathing brushstrokes directly to the canvas at an accelerated pace means that once the painting is finished she is catching up to reality. Her concept of time is absent as she is determined by the hope that her projection of this future reality will come to life instantaneously. This sense of immediacy between the working of the mind and the hands imbues her work with a sense of weightlessness and fleeting romanticism that allude to the frenzy of love. Bursts of colour and evanescent movement heighten the drama within each scene, whilst the characters chase each other between frames, toying with linear time. Summer reverie reigns, entrancing us into the land of the fairies.
For von Hellermann, Midsummer is the time of year when Britain is said to be at its most glorious, fairies are mythologised as dancing across lush fields and it is easy to be carried away with the celebrations of the summer solstice. The buried ruins of King Arthur’s castle become the grounds for a huge rave, celebrations are held at Stonehenge, and we feel more connected to the ethereal lands of Britain’s past.
This is the actors troupe in the woods who are rehearsing the Greek Play. One of them is holding a prop which is reminiscent of a Franz West Passstück, adaptive (Stück is Piece in German).
- Sophie von Hellermann
This was the first I painted in the series, to set the scene so to speak. Thinking about a very short night or a very light night where the sun hardly disappears but there is a lot of twilight, in the summer woods. And there is some moisture in the air collecting in drops on the plants.
- Sophie von Hellermann
I think of my paintings as projections. A little kernel of an idea is in my head and then I blow it up on a huge canvas and it becomes a backdrop for a shadow dance, imprints of which become the final painting.
- Sophie von Hellermann
Helena, the protagonist from Shakespeare’s play is portrayed as entangled in her emotions. She is half hiding, half exposing herself through the branches.
- Sohpie von Hellermann
I enjoyed thinking about the magic potion from the violet flowers, using my pigments as though they had come from a flower. I was thinking about love in idleness, and the aesthetics of pre-Raphaelite paintings.
- Sophie von Hellermann
Magic has been worked on a sleeper; the imagery could indicate that the figure is dead, or in a coma from sickness and the experience of inertia.
- Sophie von Hellermann
The title indicates the conclusion of the course of true love, illustrated by the image of the black swan; it is an unexpected event, a shock.
- Sophie von Hellermann
The most dominant image that I have taken away from the play is that of lovers running around in the woods chasing each other.
- Sophie von Hellermann
This painting is about the tension between the characters; the figure in the middle, Helena, is seeking to express herself as dark clouds are forming.
- Sophie von Hellermann
For the exhibition I kept thinking about all of these characters running around in this madness of Midsummer and losing themselves in the process and that is also the fun of it.
- Sophie von Hellermann
Each painting takes me back to so many moments and it is so much about the future. Because I want the painting to exist and it is not there yet. The here and now is very difficult to be part of, as the past is weighing on the painting and the future is even more intense.
- Sohpie von Hellermann
I started it thinking of the fairy queen Titania and how she should have a large portrait within the new group of paintings. I started with this idea of her and gave her the appearance of how she would appear hardly real. Is she just a trick of the light or is she there, or something that we just imagine in the green woods at this time of year. And yet, again the character that Shakespeare created is so present in our minds and we know that she had this unfortunate episode with the powder from the violet love flowers - that little Puck put into her eyes while she was sleeping and she found herself desperately in love with Bottom - the donkey head.
- Sophie von Hellermann
