While Helga Groves’s artworks embody a cool, minimalist aesthetic, they simultaneously hum with references to ancient geophysical narratives and connect to her personal history. Initially, Lithification series #3 appears to be a minimalist grid, yet it exemplifies the machinations of deep time. Groves’s subject is lithification – the means through which fluid is expelled from sediment by tectonic forces to create rock.

Here, alternating horizontal and vertical bands create an optical weave that resembles rock strata; these striations also give the impression that Groves’s painting has been carefully sewn or pieced together, lending a sense of duration to the work. Pearlescent splatters that punctuate the painting’s orderly surface resemble opals, suggesting an allusion to the artist’s Finnish grandfather, who was an opal prospector in the Winton/Longreach district of western central Queensland.