Chocolate Milk and Cigarettes by Evelyna Helmer

—Opening Reception: 6-8pm, 7 November—

Award-winning artist Evelyna Helmer’s latest exhibition Chocolate Milk and Cigarettes showcases a series of still-life oil paintings and sculptures of everyday objects that encapsulate memory and nostalgia. Through incorporating familiar objects such as cigarettes, chocolate milk, bottles and the beachball or repurposing found objects such as 1940s French antique frames in her artwork, Helmer explores the messages and narratives that lie beneath the surface of these objects. Drawing upon Semiotics and influences from Pop Art, Helmer meticulously constructs the fine details in her still-life work and deliberately shapes her sculptures into making ordinary objects extraordinary.

“On the surface objects are simplistic, minimal and visually graphic but beneath the surface of their physical constraints they have a life of their own. A life, not just their own, but one they share with us and are a result of our emotional and, psychological experience and are part of our human DNA. They speak of emotional triggers embedded in both past and present contexts.” – Evelyna Helmer

This exhibition will be opened by Miles Merrill, writer, performer and Creative Director of the literary arts organisation, Word Travels.