Helen Gorrill

profile

Statement

  "The drawings for her degree show, which reverse the female submissiveness advocated by a religious pamphlet posted through her door, put women in a dominant position while the men are bent and bound in sexual submission.  The male figures have been censored, but to protect whom?  The spam I receive contains more indecency than Ms Gorrill's work, and it is much less interesting because she makes a valid point." The Observer on Sunday/The Guardian in 'Britain is not radical enough'

With the rediscovery of collage and research into early feminist artists such as Hannah Hoch, my work has taken a new turn: How can we celebrate the female form without objectifying it? How much has really changed since Hoch's work of the 1920s?  Not dissimilar to Hoch's inspiration, the reality for many women in recessional 2013 includes entrapment in low-paying jobs and subjection to male-dominated hierarchies.  Whilst the poses of my females are taken directly from art history and set up as though for the male gaze, a closer look at my 2013 collages raises a question-mark over the issue of equality, revealing the posed women as fractured and torn, reconstructed from the broken imagery of the dream of the perfect housewife in 1950s magazines, juxtaposed with the objectified content of contemporary 'lads mags'.  Drawn with reference to Degas figure poses and Matisse's simplicity of form, these collages were based on an international residency, and since returning I have carefully sourced antique and vintage wallpapers for the work, along with researching colour and historical paint palattes.

 Much of my previous work questionned the submissiveness of women advocated by monotheistic religion, particularly in my investigation of Christianity and the representation of the Virgin. People are often afraid to discuss religion, and it remains one of our last taboos, a subject we are afraid to discuss for fear of causing offence. With even Western restrictions on the media's criticism of any religious practice, male-controlled religion will continue to dominate and underpin our society. My feminist subject matter is deeply disturbing, and to me vital in speaking the unspeakable.

 

Biography

Helen Gorrill's work is held in private collections worldwide and now included in New York Brooklyn Museum's Elizabeth A Sackler Center archive, alongside feminist artist icons The Guerrilla Girls, Tracey Emin, Annie Sprinkle, Miriam Schapiro, Judy Chicago and Pipilotti Rist.  Gorrill has exhibited nationally and internationally, and had her feminist and gender work featured in many publications.  She is also archived in the Womens Art Library at Goldsmiths, and had her work mentioned in the Open University's art history modules.  Her major solo show Dei-cide was a showcase of four years of feminist research, and she is currently working towards further forthcoming solo shows.   Last year, Gorrill was shortlisted for the Cartazini Award in Paris, and this year has been shortlisted for the fourth international Passion for Freedom award, taking place in November 2012 at Unit 24 Gallery adjacent to Tate Modern.   Her planned/accomplished international residencies include Paris (2011), Isle of Skye (2012), the Czech Republic (2012), Paris (2013), Milan (2013), and New York (2014).

She is also the current UK representative for FAP, The Feminist Art Project based in the USA, an international collaborative initiative celebrating the Feminist Art Movement and the aesthetic, intellectual and political impact of women on the visual arts,art history and art practice, past and present.  Further information on FAP can be found at www.feministartproject.rutgers.edu

Gorrill is currently working on an exciting body of new work inspired by Jean-Michel Basquiat's New York urban art, and Marc Chagall's synthesis of cubism, symbolism and fauvism.   

 

 

Exhibition History

2014Creation Fine Arts, Yorkshire - solo show
2013Retrospective, United Arab Emirates
2013Sweet'Art, The Crypt Gallery, London
2013MIMA, Middlesbrough: Love where you live
2013Assemblage, The Beetroot Gallery, Derbyshire
2013Cumbrian Open, Upfront Gallery
2012Passion for Freedom 2012, Unit 24 Gallery, adj Tate Modern, London
2012The Drawing Project, Crocus Gallery, Nottingham
2012The Affordable Art Fair, London Battersea
2012The Affordable Art Fair, London Hampstead
2012Womart #2, Funoon Gallery, DUBAI
2012Religionis Violenta, London's West Bank Gallery, Notting Hill
201220:12 Collaboration with The Olympic Games, DegreeArt, LONDON
2012The Happening: Andy Warhol & Velvet Underground, Cumbria
2012Exposition Georges Bataille, Galerie Hors Champs, PARIS
2012Intersections, Centre for World Class Science, Newcastle
2012Selected to represent DegreeArt Gallery at the London Art Fair 2012
2011Deicide SOLO SHOW DegreeArt Gallery, London
201121st Century Pin-ups, Fine Arte Gallerie, Paris
201121st Century Pin-ups, FineArte Modern Art Dealers, Bond St, London
201121st Century Pins-ups, Fine Arte Gallery, Southend on Sea
2011FLOUT, Axis Arts Centre, Crewe
2011I-SHO 73 Women: Feminist Art; Tottenham Court Road, London
2011New Designers 2011: Business Design Centre, Islington, London
2011Emerge 2011, Carlisle Cumbria
2011Salon Contemporary, Westbourne Grove, London
2011Work selected for Arts Sharp Edge at the Lloyd Gill Gallery (SW)
2010Salon Contemporary, Westbourne Grove, Notting Hill London
2010Work selected for Outside the Square Gallery, Margate (opened by Tracey Emin)
2010Bank Gallery Carlisle, selected for The Vault 2010
2010Hong Kong: Open Your Mind
2010London, Islington Metal Works: Cenzored Zine
2010Tempa Tempa Gallery at Griffin, Carlisle: Pincredible
2010Saatchi-gallery.co.uk; Showdown sculpture voted top 50
2010Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Cumbria (Harbour from Uni Cumbria)
2010London: Centre for Recent Drawing. Box of Desires 2
2010Selected for Harbour: Selling Olga. University of Cumbria, Carlisle
2010Bonavox: Seconds Out. Caldewgate Fine Art, Carlisle
2009Qsand Arts Centre, Morecambe: The Body Collective 2
2009Northend House Milton Keynes: Enlightenment
2009Bank Gallery Carlisle: First Impressions exhibition
2009London: Empire Gallery - A Crash Course in Phantasy
2009Drawings and ink paintings: Low LLO Resource Centre, Cumbria
2009QSand Arts Centre Morecambe: The Body Collective exhibition
2009Bank Gallery Carlisle Summer Academy Show
2009New York APW Gallery NYC 11101: A Postcard Says 1000 Words
2009The Seven Deadly Sins, Carlisle Cumbria
2009Environment at Hoopers Department Store, Carlisle
2008Saatchi-gallery.co.uk: Showdown, paintings voted top 50 (Nov & Dec)
2009Bodhi Gallery, London (Amnesty International) - 'Sex Is Not The Enemy'
2008Caldewgate Fine Art, Carlisle - group show 'Morgue Studies'
2008Caldewgate Fine Art, Carlisle - group show 'The Draughtsman: Fine Art Drawings'
2008Stead McAlpin Creative Travel Award/Burnetts Drawing Award exhibition