Holy Crops
24 May—18 June
Föenander Galleries is thrilled to present Vishmi Helaratne’s inaugural exhibition Holy Crops, in the gallery’s new space at 1 Faraday Street, Parnell.
Holy Crops presents an intimate series of sculptural paintings by Vishmi Helaratne, the presentation offers an emotion of their fluid ambiguity and forecasts a sense of freedom while harvesting their intense obsession with colour theory and investigation of external and internal matter. Helaratne generates a foundation of safety and worship for their audience as they act specifically within the personal by preaching this potency through a reflective and adaptive process with paint. By fostering a thick echoing of lineage with their Sri Lankan ancestors, Vishmi fluently foreshadows their history and embodiment of labour through their continued meditative construction of painting and sculpture that is fused, layered and solidified.
Helaratne’s irresistible constructions—created at their Karaka residency earlier this year—oscillate between painting and object, never quite giving permission to be fully either. Thick layers of iridescent paint have been obsessively built up over time, utilising a technique that more closely resembles cake decoration, than traditional painting methods. It’s perhaps no surprise then, that Helaratne’s resulting creations have a near edible quality to them, with their sumptuous skin and irresistible glaze. Their layered surfaces amass a joyful accumulation of colour and texture which shifts with changing light; resulting in a visceral, enchanting encounter that induces an alarmingly tactile response.
