Helen Chadwick

Helen Chadwick (18 May 1953 – 15 March 1996) was a British sculptor, photographer and installation artist. In 1987, she became one of the first women artists to be nominated for the Turner Prize. Chadwick was known for "challenging stereotypical perceptions of the body in elegant yet unconventional forms. Her work draws from a range of sources, from myths to science.

The Wreaths to Pleasure consist of thirteen colour photographs, each depicting different flowers and fruits set against and within both pleasant and poisonous liquids: tomato juice, melted chocolate, and detergents and soaps like Windowlene, Fairy, Ariel and Swarfega, and Germolene antiseptic cream. Shot from above and framed in the artist's own circular brightly coloured enamel steel frames, the works were the result of several years of experimentation by the artist. Each Wreath to Pleasure started as a sculptural installation, made within a shallow circular tank within which she would spread the liquids, gels, juices, flowers, and fruit, in a unique combination that would then be photographed.

This series illustrates Chadwick's depiction of a transient world of visual and sensorial pleasures and execrations, where both aspects collide: at the same time joyful, aphrodisiac, nauseous and abject. Chadwick examines the notions of desire and repulsion, life and death, beauty and ugliness by analysing - almost with a scientific approach - the fluidity of our existence and the matter that constitutes it.

I’m attracted to Chadwick’s Wreaths of Pleasure because they are aesthetically pleasuring. The colour schemes of each one are complimentary and I find their circular framing a contrast to traditional classical frames. How Chadwick uses flowers in her work in innovative by submerging them in materials which will cause them to die. Similarly to Anya Gallaccio, Chadwick centres her art around the decomposition of the natural material. Also like Gallaccio, Chadwick forces nature into geormetric shapes. This is appealing because it conrasts with the fluid and unpredicatable nature of the material. Chadwick is a nice contrast to my work where I try to preserve the flower, she tries to amplify it’s decaying. The bold colours in each ‘wreath’ are eye-catching and make the collection stimulating. From looking at her work I would like to introduce colour into my own.