You Rock

The book was launched at the exhibition US / THEM at QB Gallery and Blomqvist in 2018.

Edition: 400

Each book has a uniquely painted cover made by the artist.

31 x 22 cm
Unique
NOK 2,500.00

Sebastian Helling (b. 1975, London) received his BA from the London College of Printing (2001) and has a double MFA from the Royal College of Art in London (2003) and the Oslo Art Academy (2011).

Helling’s work with painting and drawing is neither abstract nor figurative, neither gestural nor compositional. Layers of artistic languages overlap and deny each other. In the same spirit, his wish for communication (or anti-communication) is trapped within the relevance of the artwork. What we are presented with, then, are explosive drawings and canvases with splashes of paint and text, sometimes spray painted on, at other times applied with a brush and then stroked and smudged with his fingers. It is this tension between the positive and the negative that allows him to focus his work on the final outcome rather than a specific narrative or particular reference point - rather, they are embodiments of Helling's constant tearing apart and building back together again, an endless cycle of nature.

Of late, alphabetic letters have played a more important role in Helling’s work. By allowing a letter to compositionally dominate the surface, Helling empowers the visual form of language while simultaneously undermining the language itself. As one moves closer to the work the symbolic quality of the letter is obliterated and the abstract nature of what is essentially a line against a ‘ground’ is exposed. A harmony occurs, and a conflict is established between the semiotic meaning and the abstract quality of the form. Through this process, Helling also obscures any easy reading of his work, mixing what he refers to as a triage of “meaning, language and symbols.”


On est tous des Savages (upcoming), 10/10, Oslo, NO
2023
Did You See Me? (solo), Kristiansund Kunsthall, Kristiansund, NO
2022
I Love You Too! (duo), Kösk, Oslo, NO
2022
Enter Art Fair (trio), QB Gallery, Enter Art Fair, Copenhagen, DK
2022
Painting Today (group), QB Gallery, Oslo, NO
2022
Godspeed, For Pete Sake (solo), TW Contemporary, Brisbane, AUS
2020
US / THEM (solo), QB Gallery and Blomqvist, Oslo, NO
2018
Then Play On (solo), TW Contemporary, Brisbane, AUS
2018
GRAFFORISTS (group, with Christian Rosa, Mary Weatherford, Oscar Murillo amongst others), Torrance Art Museum, Los Angeles, US
2016
Volta Art Fair (solo), New York, US
2016
Somnaboulist (solo), Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK
2016
Dive (solo), QB Gallery, Oslo, NO
2015
Grande Days (solo), Trafo Kunsthall, Asker, NO
2013
Machine Gun (solo), Bukowskis, Stockholm, SE
2012
Friendship (trio, with Gardar Eide Einarson and Matias Faldbakken), Carl Kostyal, London, UK
2011

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