Artist from Germany
Carola Helwing is a German painter based in Frankfurt/ Main, Germany.
The passion for creativity and especially painting reaches back to her childhood and as well as dancing it accompanies her through her whole life.
With her background of art and dance education she focuses on dance and movement as a main theme in her artworks. It’s her aim to catch the power and beauty of momentum to translate it onto canvas and make the grace and strength as well as the eternity of dance itself captable for the viewer.
Another focus of her artwork lies on icon-portraits. Carola captures the uniqueness of these persons in her artwork and lets their power and personality shine in a modern context.
Her paintings of nature and the sea reflect her love for and her deep connection to these landscapes. Especially water as the essential element of life recurs throughout her works.
Beneath drawing and painting Carola also deals with photography and its variety and possibilities to create new perspectives. It‘s an invitation to the viewers to see the world through her lens and to gain a different approach to certain topics.
Carola’s work has been awarded with several international art-prizes and can be seen in galleries around the world, both in digital format and in physical form.
CRITICAL REVIEW: The artist’s research unfolds through a selection of three self-standing artworks, each conceived as an independent inquiry into the conceptual, dynamic, and formal properties of the aquatic element. The visual journey opens with a highly conceptual piece “White Boat”, where a fragile origami boat stands against horizontal layers of blue, becoming a universal symbol of the vulnerability and precariousness of the human voyage.
The artwork “Under Water” abandons reflective stillness to explore the kinetic energy of the body: through dynamic and scratched gestural marks, the artist captures a figure immersed amidst vortexes and luminous spirals, where water acts as a transformative substance that regenerates form. Finally, the artwork “Grey Sea” shifts the gaze toward the monumentality of nature through a thick, sculptural palette knife application; here, the foam of waves breaking on the shore investigates the concept of threshold and transition. Three distinct visions that, despite their independence, enriched the theme of NATURAL FLOW – The 2nd Edition 2026 by celebrating water as a primordial and ever-changing force. – Dr. Carmela Loiacono, Art Curator
INTERVIEW with Carola Helwing
Carmela Loiacono talks with Carola Helwing who took part in the International Art Exhibition NATURAL FLOW – The 2nd Edition 2026 in Lecce at MUST – Museo Storico della città di Lecce, from July 03 to 18, 2026.
Carmela Loiacono – In your biography, you explain that dance and movement are the core themes of your art, aiming to catch the grace and strength of a single momentum. When engaging with the NATURAL FLOW theme, how did the innate fluidity of water dialogue with your choreographic sensibility? Did you perceive the motion of currents or waves as a natural dance to be translated onto canvas?
Carola Helwing – Yes, I actually have. The fluidity of a body in dance mirrors that of water. And, after all, our bodies are composed primarily of water. It is fascinating to consider the possibilities our bodies offer regarding perception and mobility when we keep this in mind. Water teaches us to go with the current, to open ourselves up, and to surrender. We find all of this in dance as well—and it is precisely this approach that I utilize in my art.
Carmela Loiacono – Alongside painting, your practice experiments with photography to offer unconventional perspectives and invite the public to see the world through your lens. How does this photographic eye influence your hand when you are before the canvas breaking down complex and elusive elements like light, reflections, and the transparency of water?
Carola Helwing – This perspective allows me to look beyond the form—to discern and break down details, and to establish a specific focus based on my vision. Yet, ultimately, it also enables me to keep the whole picture in view and shape it into a reflection of how I see and feel about a subject.
Carmela Loiacono – The exhibition concept highlights water as a vital component of the life cycle and an essential resource—a deep connection to nature that you state you share personally. Now that the show has concluded, what aspect of your personal connection to the sea and nature do you hope remained with the public who observed your exhibited artworks?
Carola Helwing – I think each of us has a connection to the subject of water. Through my art, I hope to convey the beauty of water—and the sea—or at least some of its many facets. I also hope that viewers gain some insight, if only for a moment, into the themes I associate with water, even though there are countless others. On a global level, I hope that with every image in this exhibition, people are reminded of just how precious the resource of water is and that we all have a part to play in protecting it.
