Passion and Desire

The Morpeth Gallery is displaying figuratives, landscapes and still lifes of Monmouth Junction resident Helen Bayley.

By: Ilene Dube

"Witnessing the birth of a lamb and the death of its mother is a matter of course," says Helen Bayley. Above, "Erica con Frutte e Coniglio." Below, "Spider’s Web."

   Who are all these magnificently muscled men cavorting unclothed around the Morpeth Gallery in Hopewell?
   The male creations of Monmouth Junction artist Helen Bayley loll about in compromising situations: seated against leopard-skin drapery, long hair tossed forward of the shoulder; grasping or gazing at feathers; shooing away a flock of unruly geese; lying underwater with sea turtles swimming about; huddled against a swarm of bees; supine on a red cloth with hands bound in red string.
   Pause to close your eyes and rest before moving on to the next canvas and you see red. The color of the heart dominates in these images: red walls, red blankets, red pomegranates.
   "The color red is symbolic of all you would expect: passion, desire, sensuality, blood and danger," says Ms. Bayley, who teaches painting and drawing at The College of New Jersey and Artworks in Trenton. "A pomegranate is a symbol of rejuvenation and renewal."
   In "Seed," a man stands against a red drape, holding a pomegranate dripping red juice. He holds his other hand over a distended abdomen, his parted lips and restful eyes giving the impression of satiety.
   "I enjoy placing the male figure in vulnerable and awkward positions as male painters have done with female models for centuries," says Ms. Bayley, who works from a studio surrounded by a beautiful garden in Kingston. Her husband, John Fox, a marketing director, serves as a model, as does a long-haired male friend from college and a young pregnant woman.
   The British-born artist works from live models and photographs. "I have been looking at the figure and teaching so long, a lot comes from memory or is invented," says Ms. Bayley, 36. "All photos can give you is shape. Color is destroyed in a photograph. I also look at other reproductions. For example, if I’m struggling with a nose, I’ll use books or myself."
   Not surprisingly, the two male models work out at the gym. "I emphasize and de-emphasize certain things," she says. "Michelangelo’s figures are very muscular and even his females have thick necks. This creates drama and fluidity."
   In "Bliss," for example, a large-eyed woman in a full white wedding gown stands against what appears to be a primordial forest holding wilted tulips. She lifts a corner of the gown, revealing a course and muscular foot. A little brown mouse prays at her ankle.
   "Bliss" is actually a self-portrait, made shortly after Ms. Bayley’s marriage to Mr. Fox. It was a stressful time for the artist, as weddings tend to be, having to do with the contrast in upbringing between the newlyweds. "Everyone has ideas of how a wedding should be. My mother is a Jungian therapist and my husband is from a traditional Midwest family."
   Ms. Bayley was completely flummoxed by the concept of bridal registry. "I didn’t know what they meant when they said, ‘Pick out your china.’ "
   At the nuptials, she didn’t wear a big dress like the one in the painting. "No matter how big the dress it becomes a costume," she says. "But you can’t hide who you are. The bare foot and the little mouse shows the organic me."

Above, "Rapale."

   The foot was not easy. The painting, influenced by a Thomas Gainsborough portrait and Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio’s "Madonna del Pellegrini," takes the British stance of looking down at the viewer, and this made it difficult for Ms. Bayley to copy her own foot. Ms. Bayley’s foot, incidentally, is not so indelicate.
   The moth fluttering overhead in the painting is a commentary on the tradition of releasing butterflies at weddings — an environmental no-no — and the background is based on the Snowdonia mountainous region in North Wales.
   The show at the Morpeth includes figurative works, landscapes and still lifes, and influences from the artist’s experiences in regions ranging from North Wales to Italy are apparent.
   Born in England, Ms. Bayley lived in the picturesque farming and mountainous region of North Wales from ages 8 to 13. "This shaped my whole being. When living in such an environment your relationship with the natural world and the cycle of life is ever present.
   "Witnessing the birth of a lamb and the death of its mother is a matter of course. It is the experience from this time of my life that initially fueled my desire to paint. Animals, fruit, vegetation and the landscape are still present in my work and are a reminder of who I am, where I came from and to where I may wish to return."
   The landscape is lush and every inch of ground is packed with life and information, she says. "You find wild species — orchids and Venus fly traps. It was always a battle with the elements, windy and blustery most of the time." Her family lived at the bottom of the mountain, where they had a view of the sea and farm country — cattle and sheep. Even after the family moved to Manchester, England, they would return to Wales on weekends.

"The color red is symbolic of all you would expect: passion, desire, sensuality, blood and danger," says Ms. Bayley.

   During her high school years studying art, Ms. Bayley preferred "old and rotten subjects, like the Welsh land. I would go to the green grocer and ask what they were throwing out, or I’d pick a piece of fungus off a tree."
   She came to study at Rhode Island Institute of Design in 1985, spent her senior year studying at the Tyler School of Art in Rome and earned her master’s degree at Indiana University. Italy has been a destination several times since and Ms. Bayley taught in Florence one summer. "It is Italian painting I find most inspiring," she says.
   "She is one of the most classically trained artists I have ever shown," says gallery owner Ruth Morpeth. "She understands the science of painting, how to prepare a canvas so the painting will last hundreds of years."
   Likewise, Ms. Bayley likes the large open space at Morpeth, ideally suited to her 66-by-54 inch canvases. These canvases take several months to complete, and she paints smaller works — typically 10-by-10 inches — as a breather. These are often Italian land- and sky-scapes, infused with the earthy colors of Tuscany. "It is a freeing approach, after spending several months on a large piece, to work on a small scale, manipulating paint color and light. I never paint a figurative so small, or blow up a landscape to the size of my figuratives."
Helen Bayley’s figuratives, landscapes and still lifes are on view at the Morpeth Gallery, 43 W. Broad St., Hopewell, through March 9. Gallery hours: Wed.-Sat. 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Sun. noon-5 p.m. Gallery talk Feb. 23, 3-4 p.m. For information, call (609) 333-9393.