An update from Florida
Collages by Bruce P. Helander 69 IL/MFA 72 PT were exhibited in Change Agents: Women Collectors Shaping the Art World, a 10th anniversary show at the Southampton Arts Center. Among the collectors who loaned works were Agnes Gund, former MoMA chair; designer Lisa Perry; Beth DeWoody and Jane Holzer, who loaned Helander's work to the museum for the show.
Helander has been busy over the last few years. His work was also on view at MM Fine Arts in Sag Harbor. He released his latest art book titled “Flower Power” on the abstract floral compositions of Palm Beach painter Carol Calicchio. He exhibited paintings in a show titled: “The New and the Known” at the Maison Palmer gallery in West Palm Beach. He also participated in a group show at Manolis Projects during Art Basel Art Week in Miami titled “Bunnies and Beyond,” where he spoke to the opening crowd about the book he wrote on artist Hunt Slonem titled “Bunnies.” Helander also exhibited a new series of paintings inspired by vintage billboards at Haven Palm Beach. He lectured at the Wiener Museum of Decorative Arts in Hollywood, Florida with an emphasis on his book, “Chihuly: An Artist Collects” (Abrams, Inc.). He also was commissioned to create the cover art for the 2023 City of Wellington Chamber of Commerce Guide. He has joined the auction house team of Lion and Unicorn as a consulting curator of applied and decorative arts.
In November, he was the juror for the Naples National Art Fair (opening in February 2024) and created a collage commission poster for the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County. Helander recently penned two published reviews in WhiteHot Magazine of Contemporary Art: “A Rare Bird—Frank Stella: Indian Birds at Mnuchin Gallery” in Manhattan and “Blanket Coverage,” on Ricco/Maresca’s exhibition titled “Sewn Together: The Converging Worlds of African American and Boro Textiles.”
