15 Questions with... Helen Beard

This series aims to showcase the varying approaches creatives take to making art and how their relationships to the so-called art world differ, but also reveal what unifies those responsible for the art we love.

Helen Beard is a painter who studied at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design, followed by a fifteen-year career in the film industry. Her work vibrates with movement and colour in a celebration of the erotic experience. Using a rich palette and different perspectives to accentuate intimate acts, her paintings are typified by their utilisation of sinuous brushstrokes in a motion akin to stroking skin. The artist’s first collection was purchased in its entirety by Damien Hirst in 2018, followed by a sold-out exhibition at Unit, London, in 2019. Since then, she has consistently exhibited across Europe. 

Beard recently participated in a group exhibition entitled Salon at the Paul Stolper Gallery in London, alongside artists including Susannah Baker-Smith, Susie Hamilton and Lauren Bryden. The exhibition spans almost thirty years, focusing on paintings, prints, needlework, and sculptures, and remains on view through August 14.

‍1. What is your earliest memory of a work of art?

I remember being mesmerised by Henry Rousseau’s ‘The Dream’ as a kid, but the first artwork that I saw in the flesh that I was obsessed with was Richard Wilson’s 20.50 at the Saatchi Gallery on Boundary Road when I was in sixth form college.

2. Where do you turn to when you're in need of inspiration?

Films and books.

3. Who is your favourite artist?

Louise Bourgeois.

4. What's the biggest crime an artist can commit?

Murder?

5. Which gallery or museum should everyone try to visit at least once in their life?

I love the Guggenheim in New York as I love the Frank Lloyd Wright architecture. I have heard that artists find it hard to exhibit there, though, as it’s all on a spiral, but I saw the Maurizio Cattelan retrospective exhibition, where he hung all the artworks he had ever made from the ceiling in the centre of the spiral, and that was mind-blowing!

I also love the Maeght Foundation in Saint-Paul-de-Vence.

6. What is the worst thing about the art world?

Financial stability - there is none!

7. Whose opinions on art do you actually care about?

Art is subjective, so this is really hard… I like a lot of independent curators, and my artist friends always have something interesting to say about art.

8. What trend in art makes you roll your eyes?

I struggle with AI-generated art unless it’s done really well!

9. Who are the last three musical artists you listened to?

Joshua Idehan. Travis Scott. Max Richter

10. What's your favourite colour and why?

Do I have to choose one? Yellow ochre. Pale mint green. Cobalt blue - sorry, I can’t narrow it down anymore.

11. What three items would you grab if your house was burning down?

My dog, Yoko. My Damien Hirst butterfly painting. My box of memorabilia from my kids from when they were little.

12. Is there an artistic skill you wish you were better at?

All of them. There is so much room for improvement. I would like the ability to make a mess and be less controlled.

13. What can you tell us about your work in Salon that's currently on view at Paul Stolper Gallery?

The show includes a group of four small works on paper called 'Today The Waves Matched My Fury', and it is the first time I have worked with oil on paper. I love the way the oil sinks into this khadi rag paper and gives the colour so much depth. I also love watching the angry sea when it is raging in Brighton, and sometimes it really resonates with the way I am feeling. I have so enjoyed making these, as anger is an emotion just like desire that women are not often allowed to express!

Another painting, entitled ‘And the Rain Came Down’, was inspired by crepuscular rays. The beams appear to fan outward from the sun, they are actually near-parallel columns of light. Their diverging appearance is purely an optical illusion caused by distance and perspective, much like looking down a long, straight road that appears to narrow on the horizon

My little painting is actually an extreme close-up of the female form, the sun becoming the clitoris, the vulva forming the clouds, and the rays a female ejaculation.

14. What impression do you hope people get after seeing your show?

That women are brilliant, unapologetic bad asses. 

15. What else are you working on at the moment?

Some sculptures, I’m totally inspired by Eva Hesse at the moment. I’m also trying out ways to make 3D versions of my paintings, and I am planning a show at The Adelaide Salon in Brighton later this year.

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Salon will be on display at Paul Stolper until 14 August.

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