Helen Booth

this divine quiet

HELEN BOOTH 7 November - 2 December 2020

View over the Sandur (Series) Oil and Gesso on panel, 36x36cm

this divine quiet

HELEN BOOTH 7 November - 2 December 2020

&Gallery 3 Dundas Street Edinburgh EH3 6QG andgallery.co.uk info@andgallery.co.uk 0131 467 0618

&Gallery is pleased to present This Divine Quiet a solo exhibition by the British artist Helen Booth, the first to be held in Scotland. Bringing together more than 25 pieces from Helen Booth’s recent oeuvre, this exhibition features artworks derived from her latest residency in Iceland and strengthens the artist’s relations with light, nature and the geometry of landscapes.

My recent paintings concentrate on the limitless variations of the single dot and how the individual marks when placed side by side create a dialogue. Often the dots follow disjointed lines or they crowd together in amorphous blocks. Sometimes they are destroyed by gravity with dripped paints. The works explore both an impulsive and repetitive way of mark making that is both gestural and meditative.

Straight and dynamic lines often appear alongside the more gossamer transient dots in the paintings.

The dot itself can be many things, a puncture wound, a beginning, an end, an existence or a loss. It can be the end of a sentence or a punctuation in a landscape. It can symbolise life and it can represent death – a full stop.

When I paint, I try to balance action and inaction. Oil allows me to do this; each layer forcing a pause in the works construction. I pour and drag the paint across the surface - this juxtaposition of imposed structure and the loosely applied paint is an emotional response to the process of painting.

My restrained palette creates work that focuses on the mark without the distraction of colour.

This way of working, the duality of the interactions by myself as an artist, the hands-off exchanges of the paint on a surface, the force of gravity and the element of chance are fundamental to my ideas.

The internal alchemy, the human condition, of being and not being, of life and death are what I am striving to capture within my work.

Agnes Martin stated succinctly in her Beauty is a Mystery of Life lecture in 1989 that “it is commonly thought that everything that is, can be put into words. But there is a wide range of emotional response that we make that cannot be put into words. We are so used to making these emotional responses that we are not consciously aware of them till they are represented in art work.”

A recent Residency in Iceland has greatly informed my practise. Standing in what can only be described as a Divine landscape has reinforced my personal belief that Nature is the most powerful force and that trying to capture the essence of Nature in its purist form is what is important to me as an artist.

The cycle of birth and rebirth, in life and in nature is key.

Helen Booth studied Fine Art Painting at Wimbledon School of Art and graduated in 1989.

In 2019, she was awarded two prestigious New York awards – A Pollock Krasner award for painting and an Adolf and Esther Gottlieb Prize for Abstract Painting. Booth also won the Glynn Vivian Prize for Welsh Painting at BEEP International Painting Prize 2018. She has exhibited extensively throughout the UK and Europe, her work is held in numerous private collections around the world.

I Think About You All The Time Oil on canvas, 140x140cm

Falling Water Oil on canvas, 100x100cm

Frozen Water Oil on canvas, 100x100cm

Gentle Breeze Oil on canvas, 50x60cm

Palpable Quiet Oil on canvas, 50x60cm

Abstract Landscape 6 & 2 Oil on canvas, 50x60cm

Abstract Landscape 11 & 4 Oil on canvas, 50x60cm

Abstract Landscape 1 & 12 Oil on canvas, 50x60cm

Silent Fall of Snow (detail) Oil on canvas, 100x100cm

This Cold Heaven Oil on canvas, 28x28cm

Quiet Abandon Oil on canvas, 50x60cm

Slow Falling Water Oil on canvas, 80x100cm

Stardust Oil on canvas, 100x100cm

HELEN BOOTH (b.1967 Staffordshire UK) 1986/89 Fine Art Painting at Wimbledon School of Art under Bernard Cohen, George Blacklock & Prunella Clough.

SELECTED SOLO – 2/3 PERSON EXHIBITIONS 2021 Vasby Konsthall - Sweden 2021 Recent Work - The Table - Hay on Wye, UK 2021 Solo Exhibition – Oriel Myrddin Gallery - Carmarthen, UK 2020 This Divine Quiet - &Gallery - Edinburgh, UK 2019 Matter - Elysium Gallery - Swansea, UK 2019 Balance - The Table - Hay on Wye, UK 2018 After Nature - Stiwdio 3 - Cardigan, UK 2014 Synapse - Mwldan - Cardigan, UK 2014 Three - TEN - Cardiff, UK 2013 Drift - Duckett and Jeffries Gallery - Malton, UK 2008 Tirliniau - Llantarnam Grange Arts Centre - Cwmbran, UK 2008 Landscapes - Oriel Clwyd Art Centre - Chester, UK 2007 Landscapes - Morgan-Boyce Gallery- Marlborough, UK 2007 Landscapes - Mwldan - Cardigan, UK

2019 Approaches - Mayfair Art Weekend - D Contemporary Mayfair London, UK 2019 Twist Group Exhibition - Northwall Arts Centre - Oxford, UK 2019 Winter Exhibition - Silson Contemporary - Harrogate, UK 2018 Glimpses of Magic - The Art Shop & Chapel - Abergavenny, UK 2018 Group Silson - Silson Contemporary - Harrogate, UK 2018 Summer Exhibition - TEN - Cardiff, UK 2018 Roger Cecil + Four Painters - Oriel Myrddin Gallery - Carmarthen, UK 2017 Winter - TEN - Cardiff, UK 2017 Summer - TEN - Cardiff, UK 2016 Spring - TEN - Cardiff, UK 2016 Back Wall - Oriel Myrddin Gallery - Carmarthen, UK 2015 Summer - TEN - Cardiff, UK 2015 Drawing - Oriel Myrddin Gallery - Carmarthen, UK 2015 Alternatives Are Seldom Found - Arusha Gallery - Edinburgh, UK SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2015 Winter Exhibition - The Art Shop & Chapel - Abergavenny, UK 2020 Time - No Format Gallery - London, UK 2014 New Year Exhibition - Cadogan Contemporary London, UK 2020 The Table - Oriel Myrddin Gallery - Carmarthen, UK 2014 Winter - TEN - Cardiff, UK 2020 BEEP Painting Prize - SHIFT - Cardiff, UK 2014 Four - Quercus Gallery - Bath, UK 2020 Summer Exhibition - TEN - Cardiff, UK 2013 Gleam - Quercus Gallery - Bath, UK 2020 Off the cut - Silson Contemporary - Harrogate, UK 2013 Thomas and Paul AAF - Hamburg, Germany 2020 Irving Gallery - Oxford, UK 2013 Abstraction - Thomas and Paul - London, UK 2020 Winter Show - Silson Contemporary - Harrogate, UK 2013 Prelude - Thomas and Paul - London, UK 2020 Wilson Stephens and Jones - London, UK 2013 Gathered – Gathered Gallery - New York, USA 2020 Exhibition Showcase - The Walnut Tree - Abergavenny, UK 2013 Matter Lumina - Milkwood Gallery - Cardiff, UK 2019 Holly Hunt Gallery - Miami Arts Week - Miami, USA 2012 Memories, You’re Talking About Memories - Blinc - Conwy, UK 2019 Winter Exhibition - &Gallery - Edinburgh, UK 2012 Strings - Installation Blinc Festival, Conwy, UK 2019 Autumn Exhibition - Silson Contemporary - Harrogate, UK 2012 Matter Lumina - King Street Gallery - Carmarthen, UK 2019 Summer/ Haf - TEN - Cardiff, UK 2012 Works on Paper - Cadogan Contemporary- London, UK 2019 Spring Exhibition - Silson Contemporary - Harrogate, UK 2012 Marks of Intent - The Art Shop & Chapel - Abergavenny, UK

PRIZES 2018 Welsh Based Artist Prize - Friends of Glynn Vivian Gallery 2018 BEEP International Painting Biennial Swansea 2012 Threadneedle Art Prize The Mall Galleries, London AWARDS 2020 Arts Council Wales - WAI Travel Award for Icelandic Residency 2019 Painting Award from Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation - NY, USA 2019 Award for Painting Pollock Krasner Foundation Inc. - NY, USA 2014 Award for Painting Pollock Krasner Foundation Inc. - NY, USA 2011 Arts Council R&D Award Welsh Arts Council 2009 Oppenheim John Downes Award for Painting 2007 Oppenheim John Downes Award for Painting 2006 Arts Council Personal Development Grant, Out in the Landscape RESIDENCIES 2020 Hafnarborg Residency Iceland P U B L I C AT I O N S 2020 Selected Works by Richard Unwin - The Net Gallery Publication 2020 Art & Presence – Interview 2020 3 Painters to Watch - Visionary Project NYC. 2020 Tous Magazine. Interview by Holly Newgate.

2020 House and Garden. Artist Support Pledge Highlight 2020 Coeur Et Art. Interview by Alexandra Etienne 2019 The Weekend, Western Mail. Editorial - Jenny White 2019 Murze Magazine. Minimalism Issue.

2019 Western Mail Elysium Exhibition Review - Jenny White 2019 Glynn Vivian Magazine. Glynn Vivian Interview - Alice

McKenna Jones.

The cataolgue was published by &Gallery to accompany ‘Helen Booth - This Divine Quiet’. An exhibition shown at &Gallery, November 2020.

Photography by Leia Morrison, courtesy of the artist and &Gallery.

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