Beast | Helen Denerley | July 2019 | Kilmorack Gallery

beast

HELEN DENERLEY

COVER IMAGE Lurcher iii scrap metal | 132cm x 82cm x 46cn

+44 (0) 1463 783 230 art@kilmorackgallery.co.uk Kilmorack Gallery, inverness-shire iv4 7al SCOTLAND

HELEN DENERLEY

beast

20th July - 17th August 2019

beast

‘We often talk about the differences between the human species and the rest of the animal world and celebrate the evolution of our culture. I wonder if we spend enough time looking at our similarities and what we can learn from them.’ Helen Denerley

Our primal need for connection with nature is expressed in the work of celebrated sculptor Helen Denerley. Seeing her work in the studio is a revelation of sensitivity, as one piece of metal flows into another, crafting the line and creating positive space.

For Denerley, drawing and sculpture are distilled in expressing what makes each living being unique.

An attitude of reverence permeates all her work, in the alert poise of a small bird meeting our gaze, the muscular energy of a miniature bull or the razor-sharp precision of an osprey in flight. Surrounded by life in her rural Aberdeenshire home, there is no barrier between the environment outside and the inner workings of the studio. Denerley has forged a life here in ‘sublime solitude’ and resilience.

Rendered from life and an encyclopaedic library of scrap metal, Denerley’s work acknowledges impulses shared with the animal kingdom, of fear, nurturing and the will to freedom. In nature we may also behold ourselves, with greater compassion and selfawareness as a species. This sense of connection is

Bull drawing charcoal | 182cm x 304cm

also present in Denerley’s dynamic charcoal drawings and monoprints, reminiscent of the cave paintings of Altamira and Lascaux. Earthy pigments of umber and burnt sienna feel drawn from the same psychological ground of belonging. This is art that connects us intuitively with something hardwired in our DNA - the desire to make sense of the world around us, equally letting go of human superiority and becoming part of something greater than ourselves. It’s only in doing so that we understand the power and delicacy of the beast within.

Georgina Coburn (art-writer,) June 2019

Lurcher iii scrap metal 132cm x 82cm x 46cm

Lurcher iiii scrap metal 62cm x 54cm (h) x 17cm

Bull i | monoprint | 14cm x 29cm

Bull ii | monoprint | 14cm x 28cm

Bull iii | monoprint | 12cm x 28cm

Bull iv | monoprint | 14cm x 28cm

Bull v | monoprint | 13cm x 29cm

Bull vi | monoprint | 12cm x 29cm

Bull A scrap-metal bull stands before a drawing – life-sized, accurate, full of masculine facts and matter.

The bull is made of light rooted to earth through iron hoofs.

His cud is air.

His shadow falls across his charcoal rendering on the wall as if he reflects on the other posing a question only made visible by the vapoury space of his ruminating belly.

Mandy Haggith

Miniature Bull scrap metal 16cm (h) x 28cm x 7cm

Osprey and Fish 87cm (h) x 57cm x 80cm

Lurcher i scrap metal 129cm x 87cm (h) x 21cm

Cat scrap metal 62cm x 54cm (h) x 17cm

Studio Window mixed media 71cm x 74cm

Toy Shop, Marrakech mixed media 71cm x 81cm

Hen and chicks hen 37cn (h) x 46cm x 17cm

Raven i monoprint 26cm x 35cm

+44 (0) 1463 783 230 art@kilmorackgallery.co.uk by beauly, inverness-shire iv4 7al