Helen Alveranga portfolio

In My Nature

Helen Alveranga

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In My Nature Helen Alveranga

Cover image: Turn This Way To Open Oil on Canvas, 30cm x 30cm

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Park Oil on Canvas, 80cm x 100cm

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Rhopography (from rophos, trivial objects, small wares, tries) is the depiction of those things which lack importance, the unassuming material base of life that ‘importance constantly overlooks’.

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Foreword Elevating objects by means of rendering so that they then appear worthy of attention raises questions about the hierarchy of subject matter. What is worthy of depiction and what is not?

In turn, this draws attention to the act of seeing things that are commonly overlooked as trivia.

The initial inspiration for this current body of work started with my garden. Nature is one of the most amazing things to me. I think of it as a place of discovery, I am inspired by it, I depend on it – it’s raw material for me.

In the city nature is almost covered up, but there are pockets here and there in gardens, parks, even by the side of the road. The paintings I create are derived from photographs, which I take myself. I am usually pointing my camera at the ground, so the images are pieces of the earth seen from above, including what ever happens to be there: leaves, pebbles, grass, soil and the odd bit of rubbish! I use the camera to jot down what I see. I like looking and describing, using the images to explore the process of making. You could look at it as a way of controlling images that are from nature. My aim is to imbue the canvas with a sense of worthiness, with the hope that the viewer will also be drawn into examining those things in nature which are so often taken for granted.

The collective title of this body of work ‘In My Nature’, sums up both the imagery and also pertains to the way in which I work. The medium used is oil on canvas – I like the tradition associated with oil painting. Translating from one medium into another, as I do with a photograph into a painting, means that you have to really understand what you are looking at: decode it, break it down.

Furthermore you have to have a good knowledge of the new language that you’re translating into i.e. the language of painting, so that the resulting image really functions in the space between the two. There is more than one way to create a painting based on photograph; I paint in a flat realistic manner, which is reminiscent of the illustrations in Ladybird books of the 1960s. I grew up with these books and read them as a child, so there is probably a subliminal link. I meticulously cover the whole surface of the canvas with the image, an all-overness, which does away with foreground, middle distance and background, making the surface of the canvas whole; giving value to the space that is in front of you.

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Leaf Fertility; growth; renewal. Green leaves depict hope; revival.

After The Rain Oil on Canvas, 25cm x 30cm

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Leaf Dead leaves are sadness; Autumn; decay.

Autumn Leaves Oil on Canvas Board, 20cm x 30cm

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Snail As appearing and disappearing, the snail is lunar; its shell, from its form, is a natural symbol of the labyrinth, the spiral and the underground cavern.

Large Snails II Oil on Canvas, 40cm x 50cm

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Snail The snail also signiďŹ es slowness and voluptuousness.

Small Snails Oil on Canvas, 13cm x 17.5cm

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Snail in Christianity it denotes sloth, also sin as feeding on mud and slime.

Small Snails II Oil on Canvas, 13cm x 17.5cm

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Stone Stability; durability; reliability; immortality; imperishability; the eternal; cohesion; the indestructibility of the Supreme Reality. Static life.

Scottish Pebbles Oil on Canvas, 20cm x 20cm

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Stone Stones are the bones of mother earth.

Small Pebbles Oil on Canvas Board, 13cm x 17.5cm

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Soil The Mother Earth; the matrix.

Cracked Earth Oil on Canvas, 40cm x 40cm

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Soil The universal genetrix; the nourisher.

Fried Earth Oil on Canvas, 50cm x 50cm

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Plants Like trees and owers, plants symbolize death and resurrection; the life-force; the cycle of life.

Large Seaweed Oil on Canvas Board, 30cm x 60cm

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Rose A highly complex symbol; it is ambivalent as both heavenly perfection and earthly passion; the ower is both Time and Eternity, life and death, fertility and virginity.

Rose Bud Oil on Canvas, 10cm x 13cm

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Water The waters are the source of all potentialities in existence; the source and grave of all things in the universe.

Droplets Oil on Canvas, 20cm x 20cm

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Helen Alveranga Helen Alveranga grew up in Oxfordshire – her interest in fine art developed rapidly; drawing and painting with passion from a young age. Helen moved to London where she lives with her devoted champion – husband Tony and lovely daughter Naomi. Her love of painting and drawing blossomed, cumulating in the completion of a Fine Art Degree in the summer of 2004. She has exhibited at galleries throughout London where she has sold many of her paintings and received a number of commendations. Helen’s work has proved popular with both private and commercial clients resulting in a number of successfully completed commissions.

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020 8556 4233 helen@alveranga.com www.alveranga.com

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