Planet Angel - live painting performance

Friday, August 10th, 2007

Planet Angel is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to provide inclusive, inspiring, safe environments where like-minded people can create, participate, connect and have fun. It hosts a monthly trance clubnight in South London - the Party. Its ethos is strongly creative and interactive; each Party features craft workshops, painting and poetry walls, and participants offering bodypainting, massages, and other contributions. One unique element of the party is the wide variety of performances, or 'Happenings', which take place at various times through the night. In the past these have included live music, storytelling, juggling, and dance.

Helen and Kristen will be doing a live painting performance at the next Party, on Friday August 10th. During this they will produce an improvised collaborative artwork inspired by the Party environment. The artwork's composition and subject matter will be unplanned and spontaneous; they will respond intuitively to the music and energy of the party to create a single large-scale painting over two or three large canvases. The look and feel of the painting as it develops will alter the vibe of the room, sparking an interaction between the artwork and its social environment. A sketchpad will be available for partygoers to make suggestions and contribute to the creative process.

The event will take place from 1-3am in the Funky Lounge. It will be introduced with drumming to raise energy and provide a focus for the performance.

The artworks produced during the performance will be included in the K~nesis exhibition, after which they will be donated to Planet Angel. The ultimate fate of the paintings has not yet been decided, but we hope that they can be used to make some positive contribution, whether auctioned for charity or incorporated into the decor for future events.

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UPDATE: Helen has posted in-progress photos and commentary of the Happening, and photos of the finished paintings on her blog.

Review from the Planet Angel website:

"The first mention for this review has to go to the Live Painting Happening ...

Many thanks to Helen and Kristen who painted two canvasses solidly for an hour amid the craziness of the Funky Lounge. The results of their hard work is to be exhibited at an exhibition opening on the 21st August, (if you’d like to go click here for full details). After the exhibition we’re thinking of doing something worthwhile with the canvasses, suggestions so far are to auction them or turn them into decor, please feel free to suggest an idea here."

The finished diptych can be viewed on Helen's portfolio website:

K~nesis Exhibition

Tuesday, August 21nd, 2007 - Sunday, September 2nd, 2007
The Foundry, 84-86 Great Eastern Street, London (view map)

Helen and Kristen's individual art styles are very different, but their collaborative paintings have a coherent and distinctive style. Their artworks are improvised and often unplanned, both artists working simultaneously on the same canvas, sharing ideas and responding spontaneously to visual and thematic cues as they develop.

This method has proved remarkably successful, producing vibrant, kinetic artworks with a strong focus on themes of growth and movement. The organic nature of the creative process is reflected in the subject-matter of the paintings: K~nesis reveals a living energy that flows through the natural world, connecting inner and outer space.

The exhibition also incorporates painted sculpture and other three-dimensional artworks. Images of the physical universe play across faceless human figures; a series of heads are morphed into outlandish forms and exotic creatures.

The paintings reveal a fantastic landscape in which one encounters strange spirit dancers and shamanic visions. Perspective continually shifts, and images are coded in unexpected ways. The inspiration process is represented as power flowing from otherworldly beings; mathematical patterns and human figures are hidden in abstract colourscapes. Abundant foliage is inhabited by dryads and dragons, hummingbirds and seagulls, sea creatures, butterflies. Scale is toyed with to a dizzying extent, moving from the lush fragrance inside a tropical flower to the abstracted vastness of oceans and galaxies.

The development of each painting, and the collection as a whole, charts the journey taken by the two artists as their relationship deepens. Through their artistic collaboration, Helen and Kristen explore themes of sensuality, independence, womanhood and spirituality. Their nude portraits of each other exemplify the intimacy between them, both as lovers and as a creative partnership.

Launch Party

The Foundry is holding a launch party for the exhibition on the evening of Wednesday August 22nd (the second night of the exhibition), to which all are invited. Please feel free to bring guests to the event.

Background music will be provided by DJ Kilinrax (www.psy.dj).

Artworks will be for sale for the duration of the exhibition, and will be available for collection from Sunday September 2nd.

For more info contact helen@wax-and-wane.org

Click here to preview selected artworks »

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UPDATE: artworks and commentary from the exhibition can be viewed on Helen's blog, and in the "Collaborations" section of her portfolio website.

Selected pieces from the exhibition are currently on display in the Pembury Tavern, Hackney. Some paintings are still available for sale through Helen's Etsy shop.