Helen Orton’s (b. 1973) paintings depicting the human form, involve a process of layering the paint, with struggle and indecision visible, to capture the complexity of flesh and form in order to explore the timeless, universal themes of appearance and perception.

Orton was born in Melton Mowbray, UK and currently lives and works near Newbury, UK. The artist has a degree in Business Operation and Control from the University of Salford and the University of Toledo in the USA. Formerly a Software Designer and Developer, Orton made a career change in 2020 to concentrate on painting after studying portrait painting and life drawing for many years.

Orton studies painters and writers of the past in an attempt to find ideas relevant to contemporary society. She establishes a dialogue with the past with the aim of identifying and reinterpreting timeless, universal themes which she expresses through the exploration of painting the human form. Orton generally works from photos to provide a static image that can be interrogated, searching for a universal essence rather than trying to achieve a likeness. For the artist, the figures in the paintings are anyone and everyone.  The artist is interested in placing figures in compositions that maintain a sense of ambiguity and often involve themes of observing and being observed with the consciousness of being seen or being looked at without consent.