Helene Black

Helene Black is a Cypriot artist and curator working with various media. She has been exhibited in museums and contemporary art centers in Cyprus, Argentina, France, the UK, United States, Japan, Greece, Switzerland, Denmark, Russia and Australia.

Overview

Jurate Macnoriute writes: "Helene Black quasi renews life of 'Arte Povera' in the light of the 21st century applying new materials and new technologies that was not known in 1962-1972. Her artworks are constructed of mirror stainless steel, perspex, perspex mirror, diffraction grating film, computer manipulated image exposed on color separation film and aluminum text. She likes hard slow sublime rhythms, poor, but weighty colors that came from antique. Digital photography, computer helps to build her many layered tricky compositions, dealing with the relationships between the real and the virtual, the private to the public – theme of the authenticity of a person's existence is attractive for the artist. She applies tags of Internet language together with portraits and copies of personal documents like the birth certificate as signs carrying deeper meaning. These mentioned things make novelty brought by Helene Black for 'Arte Povera'" whilst Denise Robinson had this to say: "[...] much of Black's work engages with the altered relation of object and observer in the new visual spaces created by new technologies [...]"

In 2000, Black in collaboration with Yiannis Colakides produced the first art interactive CD-ROM in Cyprus, which they called "IDs", and in 2001 their collaboration continued with the production of "Loop", a 6 minute digital video. The CD-ROM was the first one to be acquired by the Cyprus National Gallery.

In 2004, Black co-founded NeMe with Yiannis Colakides and Konstantinos Sophocleous. A year later she co-founded the Independent Museum of Contemporary Art (IMCA), the first itinerant museum in Cyprus. IMCA is a NeMe project which organises Cypriot and international Art events.

In October 2006, Black and L.A. artist Sheila Pinkel curated "In Transition Cyprus", whilst in January 2008 she curated ISOLOMANIA. Both were international group exhibitions which attracted critical attention from artists and critics alike. In 2008 Black and Pinkel were invited by the National Centre of Contemporary Art (Moscow and Ekaterinburg branches) to present the "In Transition" exhibition in Russia. "In Transition Russia 2008" was developed to include an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts Ekaterinburg and NCCA Moscow and an international conference on displacement in Ural State University.

References

• Nikos Papastergiadis, 2006, Spatial Aesthetics, Rivers Oram Press, p77-78
• Nadia Anaxagorou, 2003, The Sculpture Park in Limassol, Municipality of Limassol, p50-55
• Arte Povera of Helene Black
• The work of Helene Black
• (Japanese) Critique of Helene Black's work
• SPACE It’s Only Yours Until Helene Black Gets Her Mind On It.
• In transition Cyprus 2006
• Isolomania
• In Transition Russia 2008

External links

• hblack.net – Official website