FOCUSED

FOCUSED

SOLD
EVENING HORS D'OEUVRE
HELEN KERRIDGE
$2,100.00
SOLD
WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS #4
HELEN KERRIDGE
$5,500.00
ACIDIC EDGE
HELEN KERRIDGE
$2,100.00
ESSENCE OF COFFEE AND CHICORY
HELEN KERRIDGE
$2,100.00
PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST
HELEN KERRIDGE
$2,100.00
COLLECTIVE MEMORY
HELEN KERRIDGE
$2,100.00
THE UGLY DUCKLING #3
HELEN KERRIDGE
$2,100.00
THE ENTANGLEMENT OF THE PASSION FRUIT VINE
HELEN KERRIDGE
$5,500.00
IN THE STILLNESS
HELEN KERRIDGE
$2,100.00
STILL REMAINS
HELEN KERRIDGE
$5,500.00
12 LUMENS
HELEN KERRIDGE
$5,500.00
QUIET VIGIL
HELEN KERRIDGE
$5,500.00
USE IT, DON'T LOSE IT
HELEN KERRIDGE
$5,500.00

In Focused, Helen Kerridge invites us to look closely at the things we might otherwise overlook. A glass milk bottle, a Crown Lynn vessel, a bowl of lemons, the delicate glint of crystal: familiar objects are rendered with extraordinary precision, yet their significance extends far beyond their physical form. Removed from the distractions of everyday life and held within expanses of quiet space, they become vessels for memory, carrying traces of the people, places and rituals with which they are associated.

The exhibition title Focused speaks to both the origins of Kerridge’s meticulous eye and to the way this body of work has been made. Before the advent of computers and Photoshop, Kerridge worked as a photographic retoucher, where precision, patience and an intimate understanding of light and tone were essential. That experience continues to inform her painting, where each surface, reflection and subtle shift of light is observed and carefully resolved. This new body of paintings reflects a sustained commitment to ‘looking’. In contrast to the speed and distraction of contemporary life, painting offers Kerridge a slower way of working, one that demands presence and attention. Time is at the heart of these paintings. Objects endure while the lives surrounding them change. Fruit ripens and fades. Light moves across glass. Seasons return, but never quite as they were. Through paint she momentarily holds these fleeting things still, allowing the ordinary to become something quietly contemplative.

Focused is ultimately an invitation to pause. To look beyond the surface of an object and consider what it might hold: a memory, a story, a person, a moment. In giving these humble things her full attention, Kerridge asks us to give them ours.