The Void tier upon layer upon row upon line Photographs by Jesper Helbo Copenhagen 2014
The Void His words fell quietly to the ground and lingered, Unyielding eyes keeping them down. And the silence seeped from door to door, Peeking at the most minute and staring at the grand. Not a crevice avoided its dank touch - not a thought its chill. They all stood motionless, side by side in a ceaseless formation; Dark columns erected by the past, Some carved by delicate fingers, others by a simpler plan. In unity they remained transfixed, without questions or doubt. Tier upon layer upon row upon line. It seemed impossible to tell them apart, but the cracks were there. Vague markings of an inherent erosion. Soon, one would be ready to disentangle, Tumble towards oblivion with a smile and a shriek. But at this moment they remained one. And so he waited. Jesper Helbo, Prague 2012.
AVOIDING THE VOID A series of photographic works by Jesper Helbo Jesper Helbo is a young photographer. He is by no means a photographic prodigy, just a young man in his best years who has made a life changing decision to become a fine art photographer. He is well versed as to the personal costs this vocation entails. His future is unsure and fraught with obstacles. Personal obstructions, financial problems as well as social and professional acceptance are all part of the package that he has bought into. Being a photographer is an all consuming work in progress. It requires audacity and verve. It demands that the photographer has the courage to withstand the constant disappointments of the `search´. It demands that the constant search is embraced as an essential ingredient of working practice. Though the act of photography is a visual medium we often baptise the results with the descriptive metaphor of `pictures being able to talk to us´ as a means of articulating the quality or the power of persuasion of a particular image, or the collective resonance of a photographers work. It acts as a statement of authenticity. Authenticity is a major actor in the struggle `to be´ when discussing the work of Jesper Helbo. He is not alone in his quest for authenticity, it is more or less the existential dilemma of human beings, though even more so in the minority clique of those creative souls that choose, or are elected to represent the best of that which we as humans can achieve. The unrequited strivings in order to earn our place in history. In order to achieve any recognised status as a photographer you have to be in possession of authenticity. Authenticity is not a stationary asset, it has to be worked for and maintained. It has a quasi religious air that demands that you repeatedly search your soul and repeatedly renew mental vows and promises in order to maintain an honest approach and application to the making of photographic images. Jesper Helbo strives to be authentic and this is one of his chief characteristics that endear him to me as a photographer and as a friend. When being a photographer it is always a considerable advantage to be in possession of some extra ammunition in your `pouch´. Jesper Helbo is fortunate in so far that he has poetry. Poetry of the mind, an asset he brings to bear in the series of photographs that he has titled “The Void”. To date the series of photographs in question are thirteen in number and these will form the basis of his first solo exhibition as a photographer. A nerve wracking event for sure, but nevertheless exciting. Exciting also for those that embrace photography because it introduces a new actor onto the scene. Even jokingly, a new lamb to the slaughter! My instincts tell me that he will bring with him a new visual rhetoric for us to view. A visual rhetoric that is imbued with poetic sensibility that could be likened to a filtered surrealistic result of the conversations that resonate in ones head from the cradle to the grave. Yes, he is hearing things! As we all are, incessantly. It is in the clearing house of our senses that the aforementioned authenticity is culled, reborn and given credence as a visual language, which in the case of Jesper Helbo becomes photographic images that await our judgement on the back of a selfish time consuming process. The `selfish´part does not sound too endearing that is for sure. It is however an essential ingredient of an artists practice and no matter how unflattering a trait it may appear to be, it has, and is proving to be an asset that is wholly included in the Jesper Helbo learning curve. Artists who aspire have to accept there are `monsters´ that you just have to learn to accommodate in order to get on and get by with.
“They all stood motionless, side by side in a ceaseless formation; Dark columns erected by the past, Some carved by delicate fingers, others by a simpler plan. In unity they remained transfixed, without questions or doubt. Tier upon layer upon row upon line.” (exert from poem, The Void, by Jesper Helbo)
The above is a passage of prose from the poetic contribution by Jesper Helbo which forms a metaphorical backbone upon which the exhibition and the images pertaining to the exhibition are built upon. The work in its entirety is entitled “The Void” and is a poetic contribution solely created by Jesper Helbo. It offers us an insight into his mindset. A glimpse of a mindset that reveals the visual engineering of a cerebral surrealistic translation of the ordinary into the extraordinary. A building bears the possibility of becoming a figurative entity with a bodily inside and outside. The facade becomes skin. The wiring becomes veins. The windows become eyes and the columns, pillars and supporting walls become the skeleton that form the theatrical arena in which anonymous human participants will act out the `play of life´. It all possibly sounds a little off key, wacky or weird but we have to accept that the visual conveyancing from an object ie. the building, to all extent and purposes, a plain and unimposing concrete monument to the majority, is nevertheless attractive to the scanning retina of Jesper Helbo. From the initial`catching of the eye´ the flirting and the subsequent seduction, the forming and creating of a worthwhile image undergoes a complicated process that is both mental, habitual and emotional.
A large portion of the creative process is tried and tested learned habit and relies largely upon the past intake of acquired technical information. It is not this essential requirement that sorts out `the men from the boys´, rather a supplementary requirement that we could for the sake of argument, call talent. This talent could readily be described as a supplementary attribute whereupon the photographer imposes the personage of her/himself into the visual spectrum. It involves the necessity of insisting on being the eyes of the image conveyed. (that is to say, how the image views itself prior to being `captured´ by the camera lense) This necessitates having the talent to be able to eradicate the fact that the camera is a chief protagonist of the conveyancing. That the eyes, the vision and the pulsing ideas, become the dominant player in the act of the conveyancing. This is truly a chief ingredient of the `talent factor´ and as the saying goes, “its all in the head”. This is what we are going to witness in the exhibition of Jesper Helbo, what goes on in his head. Not all, that is for sure. Just an appetizer of something good that stimulates the senses with promises of further good things to come from `the new kid on the block´. Galvin Harrison. Copenhagen 2014