Works of the exhibition

Laura Könönen

Blown away, 2010, marble

Liisa Hietanen

Free, 2011, crocheting and knitting

The composition of my works is formed with little skews and alterations of materials. The pieces depict things realistically without completely succeeding in it. That is what makes the constructing of the works interesting. In my work Vapaa (Free) I wanted to create a space where the experience of a familiar space is altered.

The size of each loop in relation to the scale of my work has been an important aspect concerning both my way of expression and the substance of the work. The technique itself brings substance to the work. Knitting and crocheting are not neutral techniques. The accreditation of work, the demand for speed and effectiveness and the easiness of disposability and consuming are juxtaposed with slowness and softness in the form of crocheted and knitted goods.

Besides the meanings involved in the techniques crocheting and knitting are also simply good methods for making three-dimensional form. I do not use patterns or sculpt molds. I like that the work is formed from small bits and that the process can be almost endless. Mostly I like the little wins as I'm finished with some part of the work.

Jenni Tieaho

Headlong, 2011, 5x2x0.80 m, bundles of twigs and branches

Vesa-Pekka Rannikko

Monoliths, two takes, 2010, 180x150x50 cm, akryyli mdf-levylle, kertopuulle ja foamcatille

”Monoliths , two takes” does two things, both depicts and narrates. Space Odyssey 2001, the film by Stanley Kubrick, and its monolith, is the starting point. In the movie, the monolith represented the unknown and “extended” consciousness of learning. In the movie, the monolith is exact, immaterial and a black beam, that appeared unchanged at different sites and eras during the filmic story. In my sculpture I have created an image of two monoliths attached to a piece of earth. The monoliths, as it were, are ripped of the ground and placed on two sockets. In front of the monoliths two ribbons cross. The monoliths and ribbons are painted black and white to remind us of drawings and photographs. The bases are white, ordinary sculpture bases. The piece is an almost symmetrical stereo image. Two filmic takes, two moments join into one image.

In the work the monoliths are diminished models of reality, the ribbons and bases again appear as in the scale of humans. The whole includes images of different levels. We move from the scale of the spectator towards the scale of images and miniature models. The corporeal experience of the spectator changes to the experience of the perception and gaze. Finally it changes also via the motif into story and to references of a movie and its theme.

I assemble my sculptures and installations step by step cutting and pasting. They initiate often in a photograph or a movie or other concrete motive that interests me already as to its contents. Next, I place this motive or element inside another event, which is the sculpture or installation. The setup is often theatrical, and into this situation various images, abstractions and constructive elements enact their roles. Lately I have especially moved towards changing abstract elements into figurative through the sculpture. Non-figurative becomes acting out, and an abstract element plays a role, a part in the story.

I build my materials as neutral as possible. I do not want my materials to have a strong symbolic or referential meaning. I cover them under an illusory and opaque layer of paint. I hope that the materials in my sculptures will be experienced as one does in front of drawings and photographs: only as media for making images. I see my work as articifial and 3-dimensional, as completely illusory images, that induce time and fiction by the help of the narrativeness of the setup of the piece.

Miina Äkkijyrkkä

Sweet Yellow Melon, 2009, 2.3x1x2.5 m, steel

Villu Jaanisoo

The great W, 2011, 4x1,5 m, plywood, wood

Maija Helasvuo

I was away, I came back, 2009-10, aspen

I am often working in serial manner. “Olin poissa, tulin takaisin” (“I was away, I came back”) is, I think, part of that series of works dealing with the family, although it is now about loneliness and exhaustion. The work looks like a sarcofagus. It was designed in such a way, that I was photographed under a big sheet, and these shots then turned into a model for a small sketch and finally I did it in real size.

The wood is aspen, which I chose for its light color. The second work, “Ajassa” (“In time”) is very recent and difficult to translate into words. Perhaps it is about our limitless eagerness to brake down while trying to build up.

Pasi Mälkiä

Homeward, 2011, 26x34x30 cm, painted plaster

In my work for the Wäinö!-show I did focus on thougts about the ”dark” side of nature and landscape, that which fascinates but makes us afraid as well when we identify something of the animal in ourselves, below the surface. I wanted in particular to combine different plastic forms with surface textures with an intention to create a pictorial language that both looks and feels organically grown. Much experimenting and learning is involved here, but I am completely taken by it.

I try to search for a kind of dreamlandscape in my work. It is either a physical scenery, for example like in these works, or then more distantly referential, as in my sculptural installations where the floor or the ground surface in the exhibition space becomes part of the work.