Utstillingen åpner torsdag 8. januar kl 18:00 - 20:00

Melee is a word of collision and closeness. A moment of combat, when distinctions blur - bodies, gestures, colors, and intentions press into one another without a clear hierarchy. In a melee, there is no single point of focus. Meaning emerges from density, friction, and movement.

Sebastian Helling's work lives in a special place in my heart. It just speaks to me. I understand it. When I look at his paintings, I feel like he just gets it. And I get it. For me it’s like going to a planet full of alien life and somehow, I know the language. As if it was always there and I didn’t know it.

His signature instinct speaks to me. It's the choices he makes, what he decides to do and not to do, and when to stop. I think the most important instinct an artist can have is when to stop, to know when the work is finished. Layers that work forward and not backwards.

I like to feel the materials. I want to be transfixed on something that looks like a brush mark, but not quite, and asking myself: how did he do that? I'm obsessed with the process, and I want to see it on full display. I want to see the mark making, the layers, the adding and subtracting. I want to see the process in the work of art and not be sure exactly what that process was. Clues but not answers.

I think every artist wants to create their own world. Few do. Fewer still create a world others want to live in. Helling’s work does both. It operates on two levels: one where questions are given fuel to seek answers, and another: a realm of sublime beauty where the chaos and collisions of life itself explode into meaning.

Helling’s process and material choices balance grit and refinement. There's something intuitive there, something unspoken, but understood. He references art history without being too heavily influenced by it. His work manages to hold its own in a world full of great art. His paintings tell a story, and the viewer gets to decide on what adventure to take.

Helling's work wakes a part of my brain that I wasn't even aware existed.

- Caleb Mahoney