PEARL HOUSE & GARDE ROBE 2021, HÉLÈNE LHOTE exhibition poster at L’IMPRIMERIE - Amiens

ASCOPHYLLUM NODOSUM VARIATION - enamelled steel ≈ 350 x 50 x 50 cm

Light, clarity, transparency, reflection

Hélène Lhote interposes / interjects her objects between the light and the viewer, thus provoking original and unusual stimuli with them, capable of awakening the fine acuteness of our senses. Apart from the fact that Hélène Lhote does not neglect touch – and sometimes even the auditory – all of her artistic concerns seem focused on the pleasure of the eye. For her, the enjoyment of sight is not simply satisfied with formal simplicity. She develops visual stratagems where superimposed frames create iridescence, moiré ripples – reminiscent of the ‘Mashrabiya’  latticework of her childhood, creating a paradoxical spaces.

Steps and Reasoning

She first entered the art world through painting, playing with representation, materials, colours, techniques, with references to the different cultures that inhabit them. Early successful exhibitions in the 1980s and mastery of the profession could have - out of a taste for simple comfort - made her settle down eternally at the same gaming table. But her practice was already animated through experimentation, not only by that of materials. For her, invention is a driving force.

Abstraction

Abstracting – a familiar thought. Abstract yourself in the workshop thanks to the spirit, the shapes, the colours, the reflections. To escape, certainly, to confront oneself, just as much. To be one equally with the materials: inventing ways to play with them. Creating systems and combinations to catch the elevated eye - making surfaces shine and gain depth. Abstract is again, for the spectator, an invitation to leave behind the usual frame of mind, to let oneself be captivated by the discovery of a new expression. So that one looking up, is enchanted by a shimmer, a movement, a filtered colour, one that breathes.