Unskilled Worker
Meet Unskilled Worker, the British artist who breaks a thousand hearts with every piece she paints. Including mine. Having lived an entire life before picking up the paintbrush just seven years ago, Helen Downie’s desire to create almost seems like an obligation. Promises made to memories of her past. She spends every day painting whimsical, curious worlds for the people that she’s held close since childhood, turning them into wide-eyed companions that are hard not to fall in love with.
Since her foray into the art world at age 48, Helen has lent her vibrant yet delicate imagination to some very special projects including Hospital Rooms, a charity that works to transform hospital environments for inpatients struggling with mental health, The Avalanches (one of her favourite bands), Soho House, the brilliant Nick Knight and of course her infamous collaboration with Gucci’s Creative Director, Alessandro Michele.
Can you tell us a little about your life before Unskilled Worker?
Once I’d left school I forgot to be creative. My teenage years were quite riotous and took up a lot of energy and I had no idea of what I wanted to do. I suppose I felt a little lost. I’d always thought that I’d be an artist, I just didn’t know how. Ideas were there but not the discipline to see anything through to an end. I needed to find the space in my head - painting is like falling in love, it needs lots of time to nurture and having children at a very young age, I just didn’t have that time. It all happened in the right order, I don’t regret not beginning sooner.
I’m so glad you did, but what was the reason you picked up the paintbrush 7 years ago? Did you visualise your style before you began? To me, it feels so certain.
When I began painting it felt so instinctive, I just followed my hands, not thinking of a style, more of an emotion I needed to express and that has evolved along the way. I had images in my head but really no skills to bring them to life. Painting everyday changed that, although I still feel with every painting that I’m skating close to impossible.
Did you have any inspirational influences throughout your life that you think helped you realise this desire to create?
Many influences. Images collected in my minds eye, my early childhood books and record covers, Holbein portraits and all of the art that I’d ever been drawn to. I don’t differentiate between high and low art, if it resonates it doesn’t matter to me where that image is placed.
Music has always inspired, I feel that it’s the highest form of human expression, it can evoke such powerful emotions and I’m so grateful that I hear it with my heart.
My early work was influenced by the music I would listen to. Burial, Archangel would play on a loop. I can still do that now… one song for a painting. It’s tricky for people in the house as my paintings can take seven weeks to make.
Protection
“Once the eyes are looking at me, I feel an obligation to give them a world, it’s a precious feeling, like playing god.”
Can you tell us about the characters and creatures in your work? Do you know them? Where are they?
I do know some of them. Usually it’s not conscious, they just appear and can be a mixture of people. I kind of have to feel like I’m morphing into the subject to paint it, whether that’s a human or a flower, it’s a strange feeling and at a point in the painting I will feel love for them.
I find that painting isn’t easy to switch off. I go into that place and it becomes very real to me, I forget I’m working on paper, it’s more like a portal into another world.
It’s as though they are sitting posed for you…
Yes, usually the characters are aware that their portrait is being painted, they are locked into their world with a knowing that one day it must end, because it does and for me that’s what makes life insanely beautiful.
I love that. Also, their eyes are mesmerising!
Their eyes are painted first, I remember reading that the eyes in a portrait shouldn’t have eye contact with the viewer, they should look just over the viewers head. That’s a strange idea to me! Once the eyes are looking at me, I feel an obligation to give them a world, it’s a precious feeling, like playing god!
The Welbeloves
“The first few elements in a painting are often problematic until the end, I’m sure it’s because when painted they are floating on their own, not relating to any other part. ”
What’s the most time you’ve spent on a particular piece?
I work at one painting at a time. I would like to work on more at the same time but I can’t seem to pull myself away to do that. They can take up to seven weeks, I don’t know if it’s worked until the last few hours, so it’s a long time to be continually dissatisfied. Having said that, the painting that I’m working on right now, I seem to be happier within the process. That’s quite an alien feeling -maybe my critical voice is taking a break.
Was there a moment where you realised that you were going to live the life of an artist?
Very soon after I began painting. It wasn’t really that I wanted to be an artist, I knew I wanted to do this thing and nothing had ever excited me so much. I had no expectation of what might happen, I didn’t have ambition, I still don’t, just a focus to paint. I paint for me. That others like them is wonderful.
As someone whose work manifests itself using such personal themes. How do you find the process of working on commissions?
I don’t paint many commissions, when I do I tend to bring the subjects into my world, I’m not good at taking instruction and the people that I paint (for) are respectful of that.
How to Die and Live Anyway
You use a variety of mediums in your work chalks, inks, pen, charcoal and oil pastel, gouache. How have you learnt to work with and combine these so beautifully?
It’s just time with different mediums. They tell me what they will do and it’s a lot to do with the physical feeling of the medium. I’ve learnt to trust my hands, they will reach for colours, if my logic then demands something different, it never works.
The first few elements in a painting are often problematic until the end, I’m sure it’s because when painted they are floating on their own, not relating to any other part. As I’ve gone along a few mediums have been taken out, a type of pen I used a lot, it became unfriendly to the other mediums, so it had to go.
“When my Instagram account began to get attention, I felt more comfortable with being anonymous, people presumed I was a young boy, I loved that! I felt protected by the name”
Last Night She Dreamt That Someone Loved Her
Unskilled Worker. Do you think you’d work under that moniker had it not been for Instagram?
Probably not, although the word was in my head for years before it became my moniker. I love the way it sounds and looks. I will always relate to the words, I’m just making the most of what I can give it on that day.
When my Instagram account began to get attention, I felt more comfortable with being anonymous. People presumed I was a young boy, I loved that! I felt protected by the name, I hadn’t realised how private I am until people wanted to know things about me which is strange because face to face I’m an open person.
You have over 280k followers on instagram. What does the platform mean to you?
I’m very grateful for Instagram, it has changed the way that art is seen and found, there really isn’t another platform that makes it so easy to share work and has the same immediate impact and I have found so many inspiring people through it. I have to separate myself sometimes, it’s too easy to get caught up with the like number count, I can’t value my work through that system.
You seem to respond to every comment which is so unusual, but insanely lovely of you. How do you keep up? Does it ever overwhelm you?
I always answer people when they comment or reach out to me on Instagram, it would feel rude not to, I wouldn’t ignore people face to face, so I feel it needs to be the same on Instagram. It’s fun to connect with people all around the world, it feels good and it’s interesting for me to hear the way that people from different cultures connect with my work, it’s the best of Instagram.
You mentioned to me that you paint most of every day. I’m intrigued to hear more about your daily routine and any habits, rituals, quirks you may have.
I like to begin painting very early in the morning, I can’t seem to begin later, it’s like a paint train that arrives in the morning, if I miss it another doesn’t come along. I need a clear day in front of me, the feeling that I should be doing something else stops the flow. I used to drink too much coffee, I’ve stopped that now, no coffee and I feel much calmer as I work. I listen to loud music, if I’m not it means that the painting is being extra tricky!
How has the ‘arrival’ of Unskilled Worker effected your day-to-day life?
Once I’d committed to painting everyday my life morphed into something different, I don’t feel that I’ve changed, although I must have in some ways because my thoughts are so different. Painting is such a solitary pursuit, although I never feel on my own because I’m with my painting and it kind of fills me up. Painting and music, it’s the best feeling in the world!
Sorting a play list of ten tracks for you was almost impossible!
