Opening exhibition “What Time is Love”, Barbara Helmer
On April 10, 2026, Barbara's exhibition opened, featuring largely brand-new works. The first impression is one of colorful, sleek paintings in carefully considered formats. Upon closer examination, her expertise and patience stand out, lending the works an extra layer. How do you achieve such fluid color transitions with paint? Is this a convex plate standing there? Oh no, it is a trompe l’oeil (or mindfuck). Barbara is classically trained to evoke such suggestions and uses this technique to capture her desire for gloss, for a metallic look, or for gold in her work.
In Siebe Thissen's enthusiastic speech, it became clear how many interpretations of the work are possible. He saw LPs depicted, of which he knew Barbara is an avid collector. Barbara herself refers to works as ‘batteries’ and ‘watches,’ while another thought they saw airplane windows. This led to much discussion during the very well-attended and convivial opening with many artists from Rotterdam.
Warm greetings, Team Nieuw Charlois
