Artist Statement – Helen Walsh
My work reflects my opinions surrounding the structures within the art economy. I want to communicate a shift in the weight of value from the product back to the process. The absence of object entirely, is somewhat of a goal, but at this moment I am enjoying a playful relationship with function. A materialised timelapse of skill and development without a desirable function, but also an evolving question of whether that is possible. A piece, so void of purpose that the viewer is directed towards the craft and process involved.
My practice is a series of questions being explored. What is success? What is my work worth? Says who? What am I worth? Says who? Where does the value lie?
We are surrounded by man-made economies stuck in Groundhog Day. Repetitions of value systems dominated by money/fame/power. Survival being reliant on sellable products, are the artists the farmers of the art world? Who decides the art’s worth? The viewer? Or is ‘Fine Art’ and its permission to have no practical purpose, just aesthetics with hope of a conversation, a rebellious act?
Is the final outcome of an artist’s trail of thought, experience, research, or years of study on a degree programme quantifiable by one object? Is that object of more value if it serves a function or sits unoffensively in a home? What if it serves no purpose but to make you think? And what if it asks an uncomfortable question?
These questions motivate my practice. I explore answers on a social scale as well as personal. I find sculpture helps me articulate my responses best, and in this instance, resin translates well. The repetition of the core process with different outcomes from tweaking elements such as the room temperature, curing time, varying quantities of pigments to name a few, feels relevant to my interests.
What is causing my work to lose its form and reject its expectation to be functional? Is that what I am doing? Am I projecting? Does it struggle to bear the weight of expectations? Is that what I am doing? Perhaps it is manipulating the structure assumed of it and needs to completely decimate before reform. Is that what our economy needs to do? Is that what I am doing?