Bruce Helander (B.1947-)
Handbag, 2013
Acrylic and Mixed-Media on canvas
54 x 42 inches
Handbag is a composition originally inspired by a lady’s handbag newspaper ad, which Helander sliced into numerous pieces of paper to make a collage that was transferred to canvas and over-painted.
Helander is an artist whose specialty is collage and assemblage. He received a BFA and MFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design, where he later served as the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. He is a former White House Fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts. His work in represented in over fifty permanent public collections, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Helander was the editor-in-chief of The Art Economist, a publication that examined the contemporary art market. A critically informative publication serving as a constructive tool for art collectors, museums and galleries, The Art Economist was used to ascertain transparency of art value in the global contemporary art market.