Helene Appel’s paintings deal with things that often go unnoticed – everyday objects, fleeting traces, incidental phenomena. An envelope, a puddle of water, fish bones, dust: these are motifs that we encounter in life without paying much attention to them. In Appel’s work, however, they receive quiet attention – a painterly concentration that lends space and weight to the unspectacular.

The title of the exhibition, ‘Correspondence’, opens up several levels of meaning. Literally, it refers to correspondence – to writing, sending and receiving messages. As simple as an envelope may seem, it stands for the attempt to establish a connection. But ‘Correspondence’ can also be understood as ‘correspondence’ or ‘relationship’: as a subtle interplay between things, meanings and perception. In Appel’s pictures, the visible corresponds with the inner, the real with the painterly, the fleeting with the permanent.

In an age in which pictures are often loud and overloaded, Appel’s paintings seem like counter-designs. They do not demand a spectacle, but offer a pause. Her motifs appear life-size and with the utmost precision – and yet it is never about photorealistic effects alone. Rather, it is about the presence of an object, its existence in space, its form, surface and materiality. Appel’s painting style is calm, attentive, almost contemplative. She approaches each object individually, without formulaic repetition – an approach that is strongly reminiscent of the artistic attitude of New Objectivity, but at the same time is underpinned by a quiet, contemporary sensibility.

Appel’s work can also be located in terms of art history – not as a mere echo, but as a conscious continuation. Her attention to detail is reminiscent of 17th century Dutch still life painting, in which banal objects often served as carriers of silent symbolism. However, unlike the vanitas paintings of the time, Appel’s work lacks a moral. Her paintings do not tell of transience – but of existence itself. Of seeing. Of lingering.

‘Correspondence’ is therefore also a dialogue: between object and viewer, between painting and reality, between surface and meaning. Appel’s works are not images – they are encounters. Each painting is an invitation to get involved. To look closely. To slow down.

In her first solo exhibition at VAN HORN, Helene Appel presents a body of work that is characterised by restraint – and this is precisely where its power unfolds. Her painting speaks quietly – but it remains.