INSPIRATION

My inspiration is derived from various harbour environments. I recently visited Hamborg's industrial harbour where I collected a myriad of impressions. In the winter of 2009, I enjoyed a scholarship stay at Klitgaarden Refugio where I worked on refining my habour impressions. I was further inspired my Skagen's large industrial harbour which helped me prepare for my new ships and barges.

Lately, I have started to create small containers in raw expressions of embroidered rubber bands. These act as dashing contrasts to the dark containerships. I want you to know that to dive into of box of buttons and make a lovely, daring, and contrasting combination of a closing to a container is truly fascinating work.

Lighthouses have also crept into my retina. After all, the barges need visible navigation symbols. The lighthouses are created from my impressions of the spray painted iron objects on the wharf.

I view my works as abstract architectural sculptures with the emphasis on light and shadow - interplay among the black colour, plexiglass, and the bounce in the curved pram buttom. Thus, my sculptures get pulled along unpredictable journeys in time and space.

The prayerhouses: the sculptures on land, are a counterweight to the barges. Faith, gravity, and absoption are the key elements in this context.

The bollard - the small, challenging object observed on the wharf - at times holds the barge in place and at times lets it loose. The barge leaves the wharf, but where does it go?

My various works are interrelated. The expressions in my sculptures are manifistations of what at any given time touches my being. As well, they represent my reflections of many of life's aspects.
Not surprisingly, often my sculptures evolve into narratives - pure and simple.

Helle Bovbjerg 2008