Helena Hadala RCA...All Series...Early Works
Early Works
| "Something inside me has reached to the place where the world is breathing." - Kabir Over the years I have realized my interests in the spiritual aspects of painting are parallel to a certain lineage within the European painting tradition. English author and art historian, Roger Lipsey, in his book An Art of Our Own: The Spiritual in 20th Century Art has illustrated the development of modern art as a spiritual rather than purely aesthetic movement. I was heartened by the in-depth analysis in Lipsey's book of the many twentieth century artists working towards the understanding that art is an individual expression or reflection of one's inner life and not just about a style of painting. Wassily Kandinsky was one of the first European artists to lay the groundwork for non-objective painting or abstraction as it is more commonly known. Kandinsky was interested in capturing the vibration or essence of something and his notion of inner sound very closely parallels one of the most important fundamentals in painting from the Oriental perspective. As outlined in Hsieh Ho's Six Cannons of Painting, ch'i is the spirit or nervous energy that pervades all things and yun or resonance is the transference of that energy by the painter into her work. Ch'i yun means that the artist should know how to become filled with energy before starting to work and while working should remain vibrant with energy so that what she creates will show evidence of that vitality. Through the confluence of these two ideologies of Occident and Orient I have tried to shape a middle ground reflecting my individual inner voice. The ideas are not preconceived or about me in a subjective sense but are inspired by the universal intelligence that I see all around and within me. I like to see the world through my eyes as well as behind my eyes. Imagery is derived from a feeling or impulse and further evolves through the manipulation of the medium. I enjoy the endless possibilities of the non-objective approach to image making as it allows for a variety of interpretations and the viewer can fill in the spaces. |
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Light and Dark - 1997 acrylic on canvas, 24 in × 72 in SOLD |
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Left and Right - 1997 acrylic on canvas, 48 in × 48 in SOLD |
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Connection - 1996 acrylic on canvas, 48 in × 48 in SOLD |
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Interlude - 1996 acrylic on canvas, 48 in × 36 in SOLD |
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Untitled - 1994 acrylic on canvas, 48 in × 48 in [collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts], SOLD |
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Intervals at Emma Lake - 1994 acrylic on canvas, 48 in × 84 in SOLD |
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Phase One - 1992 oil on canvas, 48 in × 42 in SOLD |
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Configuration - 1992 oil on canvas, 70 in × 126 in (triptych) |
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Offering - 1991 duo colours on panel, 60 in × 48 in SOLD |
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Night Fish - 1990 oil on panel, 48 in × 36 in SOLD |
| All designs, images and text are copyright to Helena Hadala RCA |