Helen Beard’s stark colour-fields of female sexual experience are a thrilling celebration of carnal desire. Their surfaces are replete with rich textures that mimic the supple contours of the human body. Although sourced from pornographic images, Beard’s work is far from crude: her polychromatic palette pieces together interlocking blocks of flesh, resulting in a tactile and joyous tangle of erotic fantasy.
Beard’s works lie between abstraction and representation, reducing figures to vibrant fields of colour. Through this joyous use of bright colouring, Beard seeks to reclaim depictions of the body and of the sexual from the predominant male perspective. These are explicit works that unreservedly depict sex, encouraging the viewer to engage with the subject without embarrassment or reserve. Using her knowledge of cinematography, Beard employs tight angles and close crops of the body when framing her works in order to portray the act of sex with a striking level of intimacy. Beard’s works also emphasise the importance of sexual inclusivity by portraying the diversity of sexuality, allocating attention to experiences that are often censored by the mainstream. As such, Beard’s works celebrate humankind’s innate fascination with sex without any sense of shame.
Installation view: True Colours, 2018, Newport Street Gallery. Image courtesy of Newport Street Gallery. Photo Prudence Cuming Associates.
Installation view: It’s Her Factory, 2019, Unit London. Image courtesy of Unit London.
Installation view: True Colours, 2018, Newport Street Gallery. Image courtesy of Newport Street Gallery. Photo Prudence Cuming Associates.
Installation view: It’s Her Factory, 2019, Unit London. Image courtesy of Unit London.
Installation view: It’s Her Factory, 2019, Unit London. Image courtesy of Unit London.
Installation view: True Colours, 2018, Newport Street Gallery. Image courtesy of Newport Street Gallery. Photo Prudence Cuming Associates.
Installation view: It’s Her Factory, 2019, Unit London. Image courtesy of Unit London.
Installation view: True Colours, 2018, Newport Street Gallery. Image courtesy of Newport Street Gallery. Photo Prudence Cuming Associates.
Installation view: 21st Century Women, 2018, Unit London. Image courtesy of Unit London.
Works
Works
Studio
In the studio with Helen Beard, 2019
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Helen Beard (b.1971) is a Brighton based artist whose works lie between abstraction and representation, reducing figures to vibrant fields of colour. Through this joyous use of bright colouring, Beard seeks to reclaim depictions of the body and of the sexual from the predominant male perspective. Beard portrays the act of sex with a striking level of intimacy. Beard’s works also emphasise the importance of sexual inclusivity by portraying the diversity of sexuality, allocating attention to experiences that are often censored by the mainstream.
After discovering her work on social media, Damien Hirst invited Helen to take part in exhibitions at Newport Street Gallery: ‘Simulation Skin’ (2016), ‘True Colours’ (2017) and ‘Reason Gives No Answers’ (2019). Helen exhibited at UNIT in the group show ‘21st Century Women’ (2018) and her first solo show ‘It’s Her Factory’ (2019). In 2020, she had her first international solo show at Reflex Amsterdam, accompanied by the monograph, ‘The Desire Path’. Helen Beard’s work is held in many renowned collections worldwide, and has been featured in publications internationally.