Myron Helfgott has been a creative personality in the Richmond arts community since he joined the VCUarts Department of Sculpture in 1968. From his beginnings in Chicago, Illinois and special studies with Buckminster Fuller to exhibiting in Richmond and numerous other spaces throughout the country, Helfgott has continued to produce an impressive body of work even after his retirement from teaching in 2003. Tonight, a retrospective covering over 45 years of his works titled “Myron Helfgott: An Inventory of My Thoughts” opens at Anderson Gallery.
Myron Helfgott has been a creative personality in the Richmond arts community since he joined the VCUarts Department of Sculpture in 1968. From his beginnings in Chicago, Illinois and special studies with Buckminster Fuller to exhibiting in Richmond and numerous other spaces throughout the country, Helfgott has continued to produce an impressive body of work even after his retirement from teaching in 2003. Tonight, a retrospective covering over 45 years of his works titled “Myron Helfgott: An Inventory of My Thoughts” opens at Anderson Gallery.
Organized thematically, the gallery’s three floors are filled with work covering Helfgott’s extensive career. When asked about how she chose which works to include from Helfgott’s large body of work, Anderson Gallery’s curator Ashley Kistler explains the importance of including the “seminal points in his development”. Thus, the retrospective covers a range of Helfgott’s work, including his use of audio and kinetics assorted with his most recent works.
When discussing his use of audio and kinetics, Helfgott explains his interest in reading literature and plays, and listening to music. He includes references to multiple writers such as Nabokov, and artists such as Matisse and Duchamp. In his audio, he includes everything from sound bits of advertisements to pieces of poetry written and spoken by friends or himself.
He says of his use of kinetics: “I was always kind of upset that in the visual arts, the component of time was not part of it. So I started doing kinetic work–not because I like kinetics, but I wanted to make time as a variable and a factor within the work. Then the kinetics morphed into audio, which did the same thing, and that brought time into the work.”
He adds, “And then I ran out of ideas and I stopped doing all of that.”
However, stepping into the gallery space, you will instantly experience his extensive use of media. Audio pieces consistently echo in the background, fragments of installations spin around, and pieces light up. There is so much going on, yet each piece has its own set of values, both hidden and apparent, that you could spend twenty minutes with a work and never get tired of it.
Helfgott incorporates other people into his work. He is never afraid to ask a friend to write a piece of poetry for him, or another to recite it. He references his piece titled “Two Beautiful Women in the Luxembourg Gardens,” an audio recording of two English-speaking French women reciting a poem (written by a friend) plays, while a picture of two women sitting in a garden is displayed on the wall. This is just one example of how Helfgott incorporates multiple elements into his work.
Helfgott explains how he always tries to add an element of astonishment to his work. He says, “In order for the work to have a vitality, then it has to surprise me also–that’s the only way it’s going to work.” His process is not planned out. Helfgott’s work begins with one thing and always ends up completely different from its start–yet that is an important factor to Helfgott’s constant self-discovery as an artist. Each day he begins fresh with his work, and explores its capabilities as if he were familiarizing himself with a stranger.
Whilst describing his artistic process, way of life, and all around being, he says, “Today is the day–there’s no other day. Yesterday is a fond memory, tomorrow is wishful thinking. And that’s it.”
Stop by Anderson Gallery Friday, January 16 (that’s tonight) from 5-8pm for the opening reception. Myron Helfgott’s “An Inventory of My Thoughts” will remain on display at VCU’s Anderson Gallery, located at 907 1/2 W. Franklin St, through March 8. For more info, click here.
