Voyages from Eden to Utopia; Hercules, Nigel Helyer

The exhibition programme of installation work at Aspex Gallery (1983-84) was brought to a close with Nigel Helyer’s Voyages from Eden to Utopia; Hercules.

The sculptural exhibition consisted of a fleet of two hundred ceramic ships filling the gallery, flanked by two columns. On the other side a diagrammatic outline of a man shooting an arrow is created by a further 26 copper boats, each with a flame. The columns are inspired by the Pillars of Hercules; the man, and a constellation of stars bearing the same name. While the Pillars at one time provided the only nautical access to the Mediterranean, the stars provided the primary means of navigation. The Pillars of Hercules is historically the Rock of Gibraltar and the cliffs of North Africa.

Some of the boats are made of folded copper foil while others are made from clay, blackened when pit-fired and modelled to include animal heads. The  boat is a recurrent motif in the artists work as a symbol of passage from one state to another, from one life to another. In this context the fleet of boats are poised at the point of transit, crossing the threshold formed by the pillars which symbolise potential change. In historical terms they represent the outer limits of the ‘known’ world; the gateway between developing rationalism and barbaria.

Nigel Helyer (born 1951)

Nigel Helyer’s work specialises in environmental sculptural installations that embrace most construction and fabrication processes, often incorporating video, photography and text.

He studied at Liverpool College of Art and the Royal College of Art. In 1983 he became the artist-in-residence at the Western Australian Institute of Technology, whilst running Praxis Gallery, Fremantle. He is also the editor of the arts journal, Praxis M.