Helen Marten Challenges the Relationship Between Two- and Three-Dimensional Form

Oblique and thought-provoking, Helen Marten‘s new exhibition unfolds a formulation of a narrative from displaced imagery and unfulfilled language.

Third Moment Profile | The Almost Horse features 26 paintings (one for every letter of the alphabet) by the Turner Prize-winning artist, presented by Sadie Coles HQ, London (14 September–29 October 2022).

The 26 works, each of equal size, offer slightly different renderings of the same mundane, abstracted landscape viewed through a window. To the right of these vistas are an accompanying ‘page’ of a fictional tale written by the artist.

Marten’s combinations of collage, screen print, and painterly marks disorientate and disrupt the viewer’s perception with each successive work.

Encompassing a broad range of materials and concepts, Marten’s distinctive style marks her as one of the most exciting artists working in London.

Marten’s work is held in major permanent collections including MoMA, Guggenheim, and Tate. Her work featured in the 55^th and the 56^th Venice Biennales, as well as the 12^th Lyon Biennale. In 2016, she was the recipient of both the Turner Prize and the inaugural Hepworth Prize for Sculpture. Marten published her first novel, The Boiled in Between, in 2020. She is currently working on her second novel, A Polite History of Vandalism.

Main image: Exhibition view: Helen Marten, Third Moment Profile | The Almost Horse, Sadie Coles HQ, London (14 September–29 October 2022). Courtesy Ocula. Photo: Rory Mitchell, Ocula Advisory.