Navigator is Arjan van Helmond`s second solo exhibition at the gallery f a projects (23 May – 30 June, 2007), and continues van Helmond’s investigation into the ‘lived experiences of spaces’.

The empty spaces in Arjan van Helmond's paintings create a feeling of suspense, as if something may happen at any moment. This first monograph contains 50 reproductions of recent work, printed on loose sheets of paper--lending the impression of a stack of drawings that can be leafed through.

Arjan an Helmond (* 1971), a Dutch painter, uses photographs as a starting point from which he develops a story or event through a subtle reworking of the documented image. Working with gouache and acrylic on paper, the artist creates beautiful and precise paintings that explore the relationship between image and narrative.

van Helmond’s paintings depict domestic scenes and objects that are inherent to our everyday. Familiar but unremarkable, these are spaces in which human presence is a given quality even though their representation is notably absent of any human figures. In this regard the very portrayal of such intimate spaces alludes to a specific story or narrative, whilst the absence of people both heightens our interest in the image and produces a sense of quiet unease.