Helen Dean is an abstract artist based in Titirangi, Aotearoa New Zealand.
Her layered, expressive paintings balance gestural marks with soft, glazed sections, embracing imperfection and technique.
Read more
This new series of paintings explores a more focused approach to colour, working within a limited palette of magenta, yellow, black and white. These constraints open up a range from vibrancy to quieter, more muted moments. The work moves between control and spontaneity—hard-edged forms sit alongside loose, gestural marks, with paint shifting and bleeding in unpredictable ways. I’m interested in how forms overlap, where background and foreground blur, and how edges, lines and brush marks remain visible. I want the paintings to clearly exist as paint on canvas—layered, textured, and built in layers over time.
