Helen Bur (b.1990) is a British artist, currently based in Cornwall.

With inspiration from traditional techniques within figurative art, Helen works with both her own images and the ever-growing image world to pay tribute to painting's role and ability to convey the social narrative of our time.
With expressionistic brushstrokes and putty, she mixes the abstract with the photorealistic.

Using traditionally influenced techniques in figuration, she moves between Oil on canvas and emulsion on wall. Painted figures are captured in moments of quiet action or frozen in the midst of a curious happening, concerned, uncanny. Imbued with a sense of surreal, the works engender the feeling of something rather than explicitly outlining what it is. Sensitive and poetic narratives are used as tools to dissect and discuss experiences, where the personal often becomes global. The lack of information or clarity present in the work imitates the widespread mood of absurdity in the everyday and in our wider existence.

We are invited to stop, take a quiet break, and immerse ourselves in the subtle nuances of movement that take place on Helen's canvases.

Helen’s work can be found on walls across the globe from Brazil to India to the USA & Europe where she has participated in various notable projects and festivals. She has had solo exhibitions in the UK and Spain, has been part of group exhibitions worldwide. She co-directed the ‘Empty Walls’ street art festival for 2 years in the UK alongside running ‘The Abacus’ a multifunctional creative art space in the center of Cardiff, noting the important role active community engagement continually plays in her work. She now works with the internationally based arts collective Void Projects, coordinating and collaborating on projects worldwide as well as more locally with FOUR_ Collective in London.


EDUCATION

2011-2014 - BA (hons) Fine Art, Cardiff School of Art, UK
2009/2010 - Foundation Diploma Art and Design, Brighton City College, UK


SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024
Exhale, KIRK Gallery, Aalborg, Denmark

2022
Feet on The Ground, La Causa Galeria, Madrid, Spain 2021 - Silent Shout, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK

2018
Laugh At The Odds, La Causa Galeria, Madrid, Spain 2018 - Liminal, 1963 Gallery, London UK

2015
Smoke Without Fire, The Abacus Gallery, Cardiff, UK


SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2023
10 year anniversary | Out in the Open, KIRK Gallery, Aalborg, Denmark

2022
UrbanArt Biennale, Völklinger Hütte, Germany

2021
At the Edge of Realism, Kirk Gallery, Aalborg, Denmark

2020
La Causa Galeria, Urbanity Art Fair, Madrid, Spain

2019
Homeless Artist Residency Exhibition, Void Projects, Miami, USA 2019 - Money Talks, Saatchi Gallery, London UK
Alchemy, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
La Causa Galeria, District 13 Art Fair, Paris, France
Tapia, B-Murals Centre d’Art Urba, Barcelona, Spain
ThinkSpace Gallery, SCOPE art fair, Miami, USA
LAX/ ORD, Vertical gallery, Chicago USA
Thinkspace Gallery, Moniker Art Fair, London, UK
Aletheia, Mirus Gallery, Denver USA
PDP Gallery at the Urban Art Fair, Paris, France
Muros De Europa, Institute Francais Madrid, Spain

2018
ThinkSpace Gallery, SCOPE art fair, Miami, USA
Outside In, Nuart festival at Skur 2, Stavanger, Norway
IBUG Festival, Chemnitz, Germany
Craze, Art No Cube, Los Angeles, USA

2017
Past Present Future, 1963 Gallery at Swordtail Studios, London, UK
What The Weekend Is 2, Berlin, Germany
Sub Streets, São Paulo, Brazil

2015
Look, No Hands!, The Abacus, Cardiff, UK
Empty Walls Exhibition, The Abacus, Cardiff, UK

2014
Solve et Coagula, The Abacus, Cardiff, UK
You Are Not Alone, The Gallery, Stoke Newington, London, UK
Trash, Rich Mix Studios, London, UK

2012
Birth to Death & Hereafter, Capitol Center, Cardiff, UK
A Sharp Eye to an Open Eye, The Lloyd Gill Gallery, Western Super-mare, UK
Perils of the Modern Alchemists, Capitol Center, Cardiff, UK

2011
In Limbo, Urban Outfitters, Cardiff, UK
Minestrone, The Guildhall, Chichester, UK

2010
Fated Fourteen, Art Maze, I Am Joy Festival, Chichester, UK

2007
The National Open Art Competition, Chichester, UK


SELECTED MURALS

2022
Kirk Gallery, Aalborg, Denmark

2021
Charline, Normandy, France
TRUSt Project, Taranto, Italy
Artscape Festival, Malmo, Sweden
Douce Vie, Hyuro Memorial collaboration with Faith 47, Angers, France July 2021 - NUart Aberdeen, Scotland
Our Towns, Basildon, UK
BANK! Festival, Vastervig, Sweden
Les Nouveaux Atelier, Port du Bouc, France
Urvanity, Madrid, Spain

2020
Arno Portrait Commission, Ostend, Belgium
Change, Mural Fest Kosovo, Ferizaj, Kosovo September 2020 - Gulia Urbana, Parenti, Calabria, Italy,
Fuzunchar, Figueiró dos Vinhos, Portugal

2019
Wake Up / Centre Donna Lilith, Latina, Italy
Teenage Kicks Festival, Rennes, France
Artscape Festival, Ljusdal, Sweden
Beyond Walls Festival, Lynn, MA, USA
Stand Together, Cabot Theatre commission, Beverly, MA, USA June 2019 - Shangrilart, Glastonbury Festival, London UK
Kaleidascope Festival, Torhout, Belgium
Beryl Swain, Wood Street Walls Project, London, UK
NUart Festival, Aberdeen, Scotland
The Crystal Ship, Oostende, Belgium
Invasion Festival, Plasencia, Spain
Muros De Europa, Institute Francais Madrid, Spain September 2018 - UPEart Festival, Kotka, Finland

2018
Nuart Festival, Stavanger, Norway Aug/Sept 2018 - Autra Caussa, Swizerland
Beyond Walls Festival, Lynn, MA, USA August 2018 - IBUG festival, Chemnitz, Germany
Urban Vision Festival, Acquapendente, Italy June 2018 - KUFA’s Urban Art, Esch, Luxembourg
Funmilayo Kuti, Dakar, Senegal, Africa
St+art India, Mumbai & Mokokchung

2017
Asalto Festival, Zaragoza, Spain
Stilbruch Festival, Berlin, Germany
Ibug Festival, Chemnitz, Germany
Global Street Art, Shoreditch London
Tempelhof Feld, Berlin, Germany

2016
Lync Cymru commission, Cardiff city centre, Wales
IBUG festival, Limbach-Oberfrohna, Saxony, Germany
AIC | Academia Internacional de Cinema, São Paulo, Brazil
Women of the World Festival, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff

2015
Westend Walls, Vesterbro, Copenhagen
Northcote Lane, Cardiff Council commission, Cardiff

2014
Empty Walls Street Art Festival, Cardiff

2013
Green Man Festival Mural, Abergavenny
Jeremy Deller - The life and times of Adrian Street, Photo Diffusion festival, Cardiff

2012
Art-el Gallery, Art space Life Space, Bristol

RESIDENCIES

November - December 2019 - Void Projects ‘Homeless’, Miami, USA
October 2018 - La Causa Galeria Residency, Madrid, Spain
April 2018 - I BE LADY O, Dakar, Senegal, Africa
December - March 2017/18 - Aamir Art House Residency, Panjim, India

AWARDS

2020 - Arts Council Project Grant
2014 – Saatchi 2014 New Sensations Prize
2013 – Helen Gregory Memorial Trust Travel Award
2011 – Cardiff School of Art and Design Scholarship
2007- Highly Commended, The National Open Art Competition

PROJECTS / CURATION / WORKSHOPS

2021
Mural Painting workshop, WOODS / FOUR_collective
WOODS, project curation, FOUR_collective

2020
Painting Workshop / Void Projects x Mural Fest Kosovo, Ferizaj, Kosovo
Present - Collaborator in FOUR_collective arts collective

2019
Present - Collaborator in Void Projects arts collective
Mural workshop, Tottenham Pavilion, London
Street Art workshop with Paint the Change, Spotlight Youth Centre, London

May 2016 - Mural Workshop at Portchester Community School, Portchester
October 2015 - Project Coordinator for The Caravan Gallery’s Pride of Place Project, Cardiff
2013 - 2015 - Co-Director of Empty Walls Street Art Festival, Cardiff
2014 - 2015 - Co-Director of The Abacus gallery, studios and event space, Cardiff