Gallery

1982
wood
77”h x 39”w x 30”d

…The only sculptor in the show is Ralph Helmick, whose works have become more obviously figurative with each successive exhibition… “St. Sebastian and the Laser Beams” is a standing male figure whose pose vaguely recalls Rodin’s “Balzac” in its attitude of relaxed superiority. The peculiar thing about this figure is that it is composed of hundreds of stacked slabs of wood. Long dowels pass through gaps in many of them, hence the reference to St. Sebastian, the martyr who was riddled with arrows. All the dowels are parallel to each other and the floor, as are all the wood slabs, so even though the figure has a weighty physical presence, it seems to be regularly translated in visual information, as if by the lines of a video display. The weird blend of hand-crafted material and information-processing structure give the sculpture a unique character. Helmick has used a traditional material to touch upon our most timely feelings of vulnerability to unseen forces like radiation. His Saint Sebastian is a kind of heroic image of composure in the face of dangers we all fear, secretly or openly.

Kenneth Baker, The Boston Phoenix, 5/25/82 “Figurative Languages at the ICA”