Paint set
Spending six months pouring out hundreds of litres of paint sounds wasteful until one discovers what they have been poured onto. Helen Calder has developed a new artistic technique involving carefully planned pours of Resene Enamacryl gloss waterborne enamel over composite panel to create her works - a departure from her normal preference of Resene SpaceCote Low Sheen waterborne enamel.

The body of work known as Paint Set, first exhibited in Christchurch, suggests both a set of paintings or the action of the paint as it solidifies, definitions that have equal application. The colour 'zips' are the residue of previous layers of paint, the thickness and shape of these determined by the amount of paint poured, the angle of the panel and the vagaries of humidity and heat.

The subtle variations of surface become apparent at different angles as does the relief created by the layers of pours. No brushes nor masking tape have ever touched the work.

The bright zips of colour were chosen from the Resene range to represent a spectrum. The dark colour contrast was chosen to strengthen the brilliance of the colour zips. In total there are eight panels each named after the darkest colour, also from the Resene range: Resene Gondola/Resene Blue Marguerite; Resene Bokara Grey/Resene Chetwode Blue; Resene Havana/Resene Lima; Resene Black Marlin/Resene Bitter Lemon; Resene Bunker/Resene Westside; Resene Bastille/Resene Grenadier; Resene Zeus/Resene Cranberry and Resene Rouge. Resene Enamacryl is used to achieve the ceramic like quality of the poured surface, contrasting with the velvety quality of the rolled surface. The raised edge of each poured shape and the textural contrast of surfaces becomes apparent at different angles. The careful layering that comprises the surface of these works is a pointer to the domestic wall's archaeologies of colour, its fashion based histories of (re)painting.

A story of walls told in pours.

Artist: Helen Calder