Painting and music find themselves aligned in a new show of works by Oslo-based artist Sebastian Helling at London’s Kristin Hjellegjerde. Somnambulist explores colour, abstract form and isolated lettering in hazy, large-scale paintings.
Painting is often compared with music, both in process — the two art forms require a sense of spontaneous creation — and in output — there’s a certain ‘otherness’ that escapes easy definition. Helling’s works capture that interesting combination in music, between structure and freedom. His paintings are loose in parts, lines are blurry and an overall white mist seems to sit on top of many of the marks. But, there is a sense of grounding also in the large letter shapes that are often placed firmly on top of the works, at times taking up entire canvases.
In contrast, the scribbled lyric that sits in the top right-hand corner of Too close to my fantasy links with the mind of the songwriter pre-structure, perhaps doodling an idea for a line. The mix of lyrics and musicality seems well captured-here, music portrayed not as a purely abstract thing, but also as poetry, language and clear form.
The artist is also inspired by graffiti — rugged, spontaneous tagging, the kind you’d find on the side of a train rather than the walls of a new cafe — and includes spray marks that bring a sense of rough to the smooth pastel tones that dominate much of the work.
‘Somnambulist’ is showing at Kristin Hjellegjerde until 27 August
