Australian artist Guido van Helten

KEIM:

Guido, welcome to Diedorf! It's so nice to have you here. Since a few years you have been working with KEIM paints. Let us talk about your projects you are doing all over the world. What impact have your paintings for public spaces and areas?

Guido van Helten:

Thanks for having me here. It is a real pleasure to see the production center of KEIM paints in Germany. I have been working in public art for, I guess, more than ten years now. My kind of art requires the public space to let the viewer feel the lasting legacy. I spend a lot of time researching to make sure that my projects really fit in a place. My paintings are large in size, appear like monuments and will be there for a long time. So, I have the responsibility for the quality and for the content of my murals. I really try and think about aspects of timelessness in art and also in quality and longevity. I always try to build a strong relationship between the site where I am placing the mural and the surroundings. I am trying to enhance the importance of a building. That may be a former structure, a former industrial site, and give it some social value to the communities. I use photography to explore all of the different aspects and then I find a distillation of a story or a theme that is going to signify, the people or the community or the history or the place or all of the things together in one painted final artwork.

KEIM:

So, you are walking around taking pictures of the surroundings of people, and how do you decide at the end what will be painted onto the wall?

Guido van Helten:

Well, that has always been the difficult part. I really try to talk with people and to research as much as I can. In order to find out about the identities of the town or communities or themes and really unpack that in a documentary style. And then painting is a concentration of this experience.

KEIM:

Do you make drawings in advance on a paper before you copy it to the wall? Or is it just something what happens in your mind?

Guido van Helten:

Actually, no. I do my photographs and then I paint the wall. I really do not do much in the studio apart from some tests. I have always been working outside on murals. It has been that way since I was 15 years old.

KEIM:

And how do your customers react if you tell them that? Are they supporting you in doing what you want to do? Or do you have sometimes some kind of restrictions?

Guido van Helten:

For me, creative freedom is very important. You know, I do not do assignments dictated by content. This is a process where I am going to absorb and learn and listen to as much as I can about a place and then build something that I know fits in the place and that people need to trust that process and choose me for that reason.

KEIM:

You have done a lot of projects all over the world. Was there a special project with a special story?

Guido van Helten:

Well, I would say all of them, really. But these murals in America and mostly in the Midwest region of the United States they have all become landmarks for these towns and communities. They are almost waypoints for me because I build strong relationships with these places. I travel back through, and I visit my old murals years later and I see my friends again, and these are all, I guess, legacy for me, but also for the places.

KEIM:

You are doing large-scale projects. How do you start and what are the main challenges for you doing such amazing and huge projects?

Guido van Helten:

It is a real dedication to the end goal in mind. So, if I have a huge building in front of me, it is really just a journey to the final product. I am very particular about matching the murals with the surrounding environment meaning the color of the wall, the texture, the concrete or the environment. Plus, the light is important.

KEIM:

You are visiting the country, the site, you are trying to get in touch with the people. So how often do you visit a place before you start doing your work?

Guido van Helten:

Many times. I know how to perform a mural, but what is more important is the lasting story or theme. I spend maybe 50% of the time on photography research. For example, here in Germany, in Pforzheim, I visited the city in February, and I spent three weeks to put a photographic story together. And then I start to think about the mural. The world of mural art right now is very saturated with very fast actions. People do not care what it looks like in a year. But I want my artworks performed with consideration and thought and legacy and meaning.

KEIM:

About five years you are working with KEIM mineral paints and we are very proud of that. What are the reasons to perform your projects with KEIM? How did you come across KEIM?

Guido van Helten:

I came across KEIM paints for a few reasons. First, the quality and longevity. I can trust that my very large-scale murals will last. The weather can be really extreme in some locations where I am painting. This is going from really hot in Australia to minus 20 or 30 degrees in the Northern Midwest in the United States. I have seen silos that have been painted white 50 years ago. And when I arrived there was no more paint left. It is just due to the weather in this environment, the way that concrete absorbs and water. In the end, acrylic type paint products do come off. So, I spend a lot of time explaining this to people because I want my murals to be still there in 50 years.

My whole style has grown around the use of concrete. And I use concrete in a way that it is almost like watercolor. I am adding layers, thin layers, one after another, sometimes ten or fifteen. It is impossible to count. But that process gives me the effect that I like. I started reading about KEIM Design-Lasur about five years ago. Prior to that, I used to use aerosol paint. But KEIM paints are different: you have not artificial but only pure inorganic pigments. Plus, this painting method is as old as the first cave paintings.

All paints historically have been made from natural ochre and natural red oxide. This is present in ancient Australian art or Indigenous art. It makes sense to use something as close to nature as possible when working outside to match the environment. My mural on the Wellington Dam in Australia is the best example. You can see the earth and the rocks underneath this site. The colors in the rocks are yellow ochre and red oxide. Western Australia is known for its rich mineral environment. The mural perfectly matches with the environment, so much so that you cannot see where it starts or ends.

KEIM:

When you are painting your murals, do you have a very wide variety of contrasts of different shades. How do you do that?

Guido van Helten:

Basically, I am working like a traditional oil painter or watercolor artist, but on an industrial scale. So, I am using the binder in the same way like an oil painter would use, but I am do it on a large scale with spray guns and different equipment like big brushes, layering, glazing or colorwash techniques with maybe 10% of color pigment and the rest is the binder. The various layers result in a certain texture and enhance the color brilliance. This is how they painted in the Renaissance era with the difference that I use a product that is made for buildings and architecture of today. The light reflection is very special and also the matte, velvet-like appearance.

KEIM:

These are typical key features of our KEIM paints. They appear very matte and natural.

Guido van Helten:

Yes, because to me, glossy and shiny coatings are just like plastic only temporary and not environmentally conscious. I really have a lot of comments on my work. They say it really just blends into the environment. I think that is due to the process of layering and soft application of subtle colors. Plus, KEIM paints have only natural pigments. The yellow is not like neon, these are things you notice when you look closer. It is not too strong, but, the environment with the changing light of the day creates many different light effects on a building. That’s why it is important to pay attention to quality.

KEIM:

I know your next project is in Italy and afterwards you return to the United States. What are your plans for the future?

Guido van Helten:

You know, I am limiting myself to things that are important to me like projects that have a meaning and stories that require deep research. They inspire my photography, and the story inspires me. My painting recently in Pforzheim was a very strong, interesting project. My upcoming projects will be again large-scale monument type projects, for example the port in Bari in Italy. After that I am going to work in North Dakota in a small community to continue a series of large-scale works in the United States. I made almost a continuous line of murals on silo structures in the Midwest from Texas to Minnesota and also in South Carolina and Tennessee. At the same time, I have other small projects in Europe or Australia. It keeps me busy, but I am based in the United States now.

KEIM: 

Thanks Guido, it was a pleasure to talk to you! We are already looking forward to your next projects!

Guido van Helten: 

Thank you as well, I am very happy that I finally managed to visit KEIM in Diedorf!