Sophie von Hellermann: Out of Time

About

Out of Time explores the forces of chaos and destruction as vital principles in the creation of human life, our habitats, the earth and the universe. The exhibition includes a series of new paintings that explores origin stories to speculate how the earth may change or remake itself in the future. 

Drawing from scientific postulations like the ‘Big Bang’, cosmogony and theories of infinity, along with mythological symbols of eternal renewal, each work depicts an event of creation born out of chaos. With focused, even frenetic, energy, von Hellermann produces her works by applying pure pigments directly onto unprimed canvas, conveying a sense of immediate action that at times suggests the idea of an explosion. 

The starting point for this series can be traced back to the artist’s recent readings of Hindu concepts of non-linear time and the goddess Kali, who brings about new life through death and destruction. Such a concept of revolution and its inherent cyclical nature took on new meanings for the artist, as what might appear as a radical, progressive overturning of systems and orders may in fact be interlocked with otherworldly forces.

As opposed to agents of change, von Hellermann suggests that humans are instruments played by a primordial force. Without denying the consequential impact of humans on the world, Out of Time invites us to admit our own humility and question how the universe may evolve without us in unexpected ways.