It’s amazing that our first summer juried show since 2019 has gone by so swiftly. As we prepare to wind down, we realize we are just halfway through our jury’s 11 award winners. (Plus, we need to apprise our winners of their non-cash awards...if you are among them, please stay tuned!) Let’s turn to an eye-opening discovery of a painter, among only a handful of REEMERGE artists hailing from well beyond our region. DAVID HELWER, singled out for the BEST EXPRESSION OF LOCKDOWN SYNDROME, is also one of a few to create a series that used the pandemic as a framework. “My ‘COVID Kitchen Paintings’ are self-portraits in my kitchen during the initial lockdown,” says the South Carolina-based artist. “While engaged in this series, I allowed my mind to wander through my childhood as a boy growing up on a farm in Kansas. I did my best to let the little boy inside of me do most of the painting.” What purer expression of the artistic process?!
DAVID HELWER
“Chickens Talking”
acrylic on canvas
300.
