Helga Stentzel works in the “household surrealism” genre, which to her is about finding magic in the mundane, seeing beauty in imperfections, and connecting to our reality in a new way.
“Even though nature alone has an array of patterns and playful similarities to explore and build on, in my practice I focus on juxtaposition of the natural world with man-made objects, be it a sweater on a clothing line looking like a horse or a slice of bread resembling a dog’s head,’” she says.
“There is something comforting in building a visual link between a highly recognizable object designed by a human being and another equally recognizable object or subject of natural origin. As it is vital for me to reproduce reality in its finest detail, my preferred media are photography and videography with the occasional use of line drawings and digital illustration.
“I keep photoshop editing to a minimum by investing time in creating realistic props. What looks like a quick fix or an effortless match on a photo may take weeks of preparation. For example, I glued 52 green gummy bears to a vine to recreate a bunch of grapes for the My Kind of Grapes photograph. For Hang On! (the image of a polar bear from my Clothing Line Animals series) I hand-painted and embroidered a hat for a greater resemblance with the bear's head.”
The pieces will be on display at The Other Art Fair at Truman Brewery in east London from March 17-20.
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