Helen Beard
Helen Beard (b. 1971, Birmingham, UK) studied at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design and went on to have a fifteen year career as an assistant art director in the film industry. During this time, Helen continued with her artistic practice, working in the diverse mediums of paint, collage and needlepoint. Her work vibrates with movement and colour in a celebration of the erotic experience. Using a vibrant palette and an ever changing framework: from close-crops to wide shots, to create a landscape of intimacy. She portrays sexuality in raw and bold canvases. All without fail filled with expression, colour, an acute sense of framing, and an unmistakable interplay between abstraction and realism. “I do love the abstraction I get from a very zoomed in point of view where the forms and the colours are indistinguishable and quite powerful.” Beard says. Her paintings are a textural fusion between form and colour, utilising sinuous brush strokes in a motion akin to stroking skin. She has exhibited in numerous group shows, including ‘True Colours’ (2018) at Newport Street Gallery. Solo shows include ‘It’s Her Factory’ (2019) at Unit London and ‘The Desire Path’ (2020) and ‘The Tulips are Too Excitable, It Is Winter Here’ (2023) at Reflex Amsterdam. Helen’s work has also been translated into a series of silkscreen prints, produced with UNIT Drops, Reflex Amsterdam and Paul Stolper Gallery.