Facebook and Other Copper Sculptures – Paintings and Monotype Prints

Silversmith and sculptor Eila Minkkinen has long used copper as the material for her sculptures. It has been the most suitable metal for her craft techniques. Initially, she created large, plate-like reliefs, decorating their surfaces using the ancient repoussé technique. Later, she crafted sculptures assembled from thin sheets of copper, titled “Imaginations of Nature.” These abstract pieces evoke natural forms like pine cones, seeds, plants, and more. The exhibition includes these works from 1990 to 2010.
The latest works are reliefs featuring faces.
Copper is a recyclable metal, and even small scraps of this valuable material are not discarded. Over the years, valuable copper has accumulated in the “corners.” From these copper sheet, wire, and pipe scraps, she has now created face-themed sculptures.
Eila Minkkinen has not joined the electronic Facebook, but she has made a copper “face gallery.” Using various techniques, forms, and patinas, she explores different personality traits for her imagined “friends.”

Heikki Kukkonen’s memories of living in Spain begin to take on a surrealistic quality. The oil paintings, with their mysterious protrusions, could resemble the reawakening of castles and towers behind fabric-covered canvases. The paintings are carefully and thoughtfully composed with glowing colors. The viewer is left pondering the secrets behind the curtains.
Part of the exhibition consists of graphic monotype works (one-of-a-kind prints), which are pure abstraction in the style of dot-line-surface, from which the image emerges. These works, with their clear color fields, form a joyful collection alongside the aluminum reliefs displayed in the exhibition space.

This text was created with AI assistance.

Information

Artist: Eila Minkkinen and Heikki Kukkonen
23.07.2011 – 09.08.2011
Room: Poriginal gallery, Eteläranta 6, Pori