Maxine Helfman at Wall Space Gallery
Wall Space Gallery features the first solo exhibition of artist Maxine Helfman this week, including two special events: an Artist Reception on Friday September 12, from 6 to 8 p.m. and an Artist Talk – During the Funk Zone Art Walk Saturday September 13, from 2 to 3.30 p.m. The show is titled “Confounding Expectation.”
“In today’s climate of changing cultural and societal shifts, expected norms and ideals are all turned on their head with this extensive body of work challenging us to expand our boundaries of understanding,” says gallery owner Crista Dix. “Maxine Helfman’s work reinterprets classic portraiture, traditional ideas of esthetics and substance. In a collision of the unexpected, these images require the viewer to linger a little longer, to contemplate the ideas behind the work more deeply and question our sensibilities and presumptions of beauty, of our convictions and assumptions of gender, race and class.”
The exhibit, on view through October 26, showcases four unique series:
–Fabrication discusses gender roles and identity. Boys between the ages of 8-12 wearing dresses, in an open display of their unique connection to the frock of their choice.
–Historical Correction takes classic Flemish Portraits and connects us to race, class and gender.
–Geisha talks of expectation, of subservience, where assumptions are made, questioned and left for us to answer.
-The newest series, Summertime, reminds us of the lush southern landscape through incorporated object, yet her portraits engage us in the power and grace inherent of the women who are comfortable in their skin.
Helfman is self-taught, late bloomer. After spending years as a stylist and art director, Helfman realized her vision by getting behind the camera. She has since been shooting commercially for advertising and editorial clients, while pursuing personal projects. Her work has been recognized in PX3, IPA, Foto DC, Flash Forward Boston, Critical Mass, British Journal of Photography, Photo News, as well as the permanent collection of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Art Houston.
Wall Space Gallery is located at 116 E. Yananoli St. upstairs above AVA Winery.
—Leslie Dinaberg
Originally published in Santa Barbara Seasons on September 11, 2014.