Helene Black: 1996 :: Steel Towns - Stainless Memories

Morfi Gallery, Limassol, Cyprus
Solo show

Review by Glyn Hughes
Helene Black is a refreshingly intellectual, talented and very welcome Australian-Cypriot artist, who has brought high tech, high intelligence and sure aesthetics in this country. During the past three years she has certainly made her mark on the art scene here with exhibitions and has also provided some eloquently beautiful constructions which grace the Amathus [Beach Hotel, Limassol] indoor swimming pool. Her new exhibition opens at Morphi Gallery, Limassol tonight at 8pm and is called ‘Steel Towns- Stainless Memories’. Inspired by texts by Plato and Socrates and by a magic realist book from Austrian philosopher/writer Christof Rasmayr, her subject is highly immediate: the physical and social decay of Mediterranean cities. This decay is demonstrated in the exhibition by controlled, rusted surfaces, sometimes layered with maps implying the existence of the city fabric which is transformed into a glass curtain protecting the decomposition of the real image underneath.