A large landscape painting is painted in one of the many rooms in the Carlton Arms Hotel that expresses the artist exchange of energy with her subjects and depicts the tension between presence and absence in her portraiture and architectural landscapes. The painting is about the figure negative space and the void surrounding it. The figure in the portrait is looking back at us while expressing a person inner self, and questioning what’s behind the mask.

This oil painting on the wall shows how we look at our self, inwardly and how other perceive us. We tend to hide our true identity and look at the world through other people eyes, because we don’t want to face that negative space of criticism and the void surrounding it.  For instance, in the novel Mrs. Dalloway, Clarissa hide her true identity as a person who love men; but if you look behind her mask, she truly wishes to be with a woman. This was the inner tension Clarissa was struggling with throughout the novel.

Helen Oliver Adelson has worked over 40 years long as a painter. Her painting work is mainly oil on canvas and she is known for her large scale portraits. And, she has painter over 3 rooms at the Carlton Arms Hotel since 1980. Unfortunately, I was not lucky to see her personally. But the hotel staff was very pleased to show me the gallery of painting she has done.