Ghosts - Helen Oliver Adelson

'Ghosts' consists of a selected group of recent works that examine the artist's exchange of energy with her subjects and depicts the tension between presence and absence in her portraiture and architectural landscapes. Her paintings are as much about the figures and places they portray as they are about the negative space, the void surrounding them. HOA's landscapes are places looking back at us whilst her portraits express a person's inner landscape, questioning what's behind the mask/facade

Over the course of her nearly 40 year long painting practice, HOA has mainly worked in oil on canvas and is known for her large scale portraits. She has also done much stage set design, especially for her brother Edgar Oliver’s numerous plays many of which premiered at La Mama E.T.C. in New York City. She was a founder of Pompeii Gallery on 10th Street and later Forsyth Street in New York City in the mid 80’s. In 2014 HOA was a recipient of the Acker Award in New York. HOA has painted 3 rooms at the Carlton Arms Hotel, the first in the early 80's, the most recent, 'The Beginning', opened earlier this year. HOA now divides her time between Italy and New York City.