For decades, Bonita Helmer’s work has existed in the space between art and science. Her fascination with the ‘how’ led her to study theoretical physics at UCLA. Additional studies of quantum physics as well as Buddhism and the Kabbalah followed and have informed her work ever since. Both physics and spirituality seek to explain that which we don’t understand – to give order to the chaos, to give humans some sort of tether in the great unknown that is time and space and existence.
In this series, aptly titled Theory of Everything, Helmer is continuing to evolve her use of abstraction to make order of the universe we live in. The Theory of Everything is a hypothetical framework in physics that explains and unites all aspects of the universe. Scientists intellectually consider such a possibility and Helmer intuitively explores that unknown space between the understood and the possible.
Helmer’s canvases in this series are chaotic and yet not – there is a method to the madness and a beautify in the forms. Triangles, a powerful symbol of change across disciplines, hover and sometimes anchor these canvases. Ethereal orbs float – contained in space in a softer way than Helmer’s previously explosive forms. Out of the darkness of the backgrounds, Helmer’s signature textures come alive and glow. There is an order coming – a sense of peace, an explanation for it all.
The desire to understand that which is not obviously seen and the desire to discover the missing link is a driving force for mystics and artists as well as scientists. Artists play a crucial role in interpreting the world and what it means to live in it. They give form to the unexplained – they interpret the nebulous sense of things and shape it into something that can give insight and help others understand and be in the world. Artists make known what scientists theorize.
BONITA HELMER received her BFA (Painting) from UCLA and Antioch University and did graduate work at Otis College of Art and Design. During graduate work at Otis, Helmer worked with Mitsumi Kanemitsu who became a strong influence in the use of abstraction in painting. Helmer also met and studied with Françoise Gilot at University of Southern California/Idyllwild campus. Gilot introduced Helmer to the use of universal symbol in art. Helmer was also inspired by a friendship with Dr. Jonas Salk who brought her an awareness of the relationship between science and art. Helmer studied the origins of the universe, physics, and astronomy at UCLA and continues her personal research into physics and mystical studies to this day.
Helmer’s work has been exhibited internationally including exhibitions at the Jerusalem Biennial; Museum Sonderjylland, Denmark; Kunstraum F200 galerie, Philip Johnston Bl. Berlin; MOCA, Beijing; a solo show at L’Espace Bateau Lavoir, L’Ecole des Arts Decoratifs in Paris; an official adjunct show as part of the MOCA Los Angeles, Whack retrospective of Women in Art; International Space Conference in Washington, DC.; Newport Harbor Art Museum (Orange County Museum of Art); Gallery Q, Tokyo; French Consulate/Alliance Francaise, Los Angeles; UCLA Dortort Center for the Arts, HUC Museum, NYU campus; Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA). Helmer has also done paintings as set design for performance pieces, one co-produced by CalArts and the other in part by an NEA grant. In 2014 Helmer was invited to be on the board of the Exploration Institute which brings together astronauts, physicists, underwater researchers and more. She is the only “visual explorer” in the group of 35 participants. Helmer taught at Otis College Art and Design from 1998-2019. She lives and works in Los Angeles.
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