Helen Wright | The Edge of Reason

Tasmanian based artist Helen Wright presents 'The Edge of Reason' at Gippsland Art Gallery, with her playfully dark works causing you to question your own.

Drawing a line in the sand between the rational and irrational, Wright proceeds to step over it, transporting the viewer’s imagination into a realm of possibilities. There is a sense of play in Wright’s practice – not limited to one medium as she engages in drawings, woodcut prints, collage and sculpture.

Observation is key to Wright practice. In The Edge of Reason Wright’s drawings combine and layer a menagerie of images to create works that are filled to the brink with ideas. Accumulating an eclectic diversity of imagery ranging from dystopian architectures in Bosch-like labyrinths to fictional characters Bessie, Fanny and Jo from Enid Blyton’s The Enchanted Wood, Wright creates her own fantastical ‘Wonderland’. In this varying range of subjects the works are carefully balanced between light play and dark demise

Whilst this borrowing from the everyday creates kaleidoscopic works of fantasy, Wright states that her artworks have their basis in reality. On her process she says, “I take ideas from different places to create each image. They present an uneasy coalition between natural and man-made environments that we all have to live in.” But she adds, “My work is also about the wonder and magic of this world”.

Pouring over Wright’s work is to delve into the detail and imagery that teeters on overwhelming. While one image triggers one trajectory of thought, the multitude of Wright’s works pushes the mind into seemingly infinite wanderings. Wright skilfully plays with rhyme and reason, as you teeter on the edge of rhyme and reason.

Head along to the opening this Saturday 26 March, and wander through and wonder about the potholes and peaks of Wright’s creative musings.

EXHIBITION
Helen Wright | The Edge of Reason
Gippsland Art Gallery
26 March – 29 May

Courtesy the artist, Bett Gallery, Hobart and Niagara Galleries, Melbourne