Helen Saunders / Constructed Cities and Constructed Landscapes
Date: Mon, 09 May 2011 - Fri, 10 Jun 2011
Venue: Phoenix Cube
As a sponsor of City Gallery's open exhibition hosted by New Walk Museum & Art Gallery, Phoenix Square is proud to present the work of Helen Saunders. Helen was selected by us at last year's annual open exhibition, which offers visually stunning artworks by artists from Leicester, Leicestershire and the East Midlands.
The selected work showcased in the DMU Cube, focuses on the changing environment, revealed in the constant flux between man and nature, old and new. Using photography to transform our everyday surroundings she documents in-between spaces such as building yards and wasteland. Such places lack individual identity, and are often missed in our everyday lives, yet it is here where processes of change and landscape development are most visible. By digitally dissecting and re-constructing the landscape, she explores the history and shifts in that environment.
The images in the 'Constructed Cities' series are taken from viewpoints on the peripheries of urban life, often around old transport networks like the railways and canals. Change often appears here due to the streamlining of industry and drive towards regeneration. In Leicester, distinctive new buildings like the Curve, and Phoenix Square sit alongside older architecture, which reveals the industrial history of the city.
Helen's digital methods reflect the act of painting a landscape, and are framed by historic references to the 19th century romantic movement. "Painters such as John Martin and Caspar David Friedrich combined real elements from the natural environment with fantasy, which is now a template for the CGI landscapes within today's visual culture. Their focus on the transformative effects of light on the natural environment conveys a sense of the sublime, something that is now present in our modern, post-industrial landscape" Helen Saunders 2011.
Helen obtained a first class degree from Loughborough University. Her work has been exhibited around the UK and internationally. She has been a finalist in the DLA Piper graduate award and selected for UK Young Artist. She has also been commissioned to create several pieces in Leicestershire including one for the Leicester Art Walk, which can be seen on Belvoir Street.
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