Helene Appel: Among Trees, Among Sand Grains at Williamson Art Gallery

Katie Evans, Exhibitions Editor

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Helene Appel: Among Trees, Among Sand Grains

22 September 2023-24 February 2024

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Beyond Trees, Beyond Sand Grains
Helene Appel ‘Car Light’ 2023, oil on cotton, photographed by Carlo Favore
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Berlin-based artist Helene Appel renders the ordinary extraordinary in Among Trees, Among Sand Grains at Birkenhead’s Williamson Art Gallery.

Blurring the dividing lines between sculpture, realism and abstraction, Appel paints everyday objects to scale, highlighting the underappreciated beauty of overlooked items. By employing various materials – oil, watercolour or encaustic – Appel sensitively replicates each object, heightening the realism, and by extension, the awe of the viewer. Items include a car headlight, an envelope, a loose fold of fabric and the bark of a tree.

Take a closer look at ‘Sand’ and ‘Dishwater’, two works recently acquired for the Williamson collection. The former is a mesmerising birds-eye view of a beach, with undulating sand and half-buried shells and seaweed. 

Among Trees, Among Sand Grains invites you to reconsider the aesthetic qualities of overlooked or discarded items, and to reignite a curiosity for the everyday. 

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