UPHEAVAL / MURROS: Sanna Pajunen & Paula Salmela

Pori-based visual artist Sanna Pajunen (b. 1981 in Ulvila) studied at the Pori Art School from 2001 to 2004. In 2009 she graduated with a Master’s degree in Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki. Pajunen held her second solo exhibition in 2007 after receiving an exhibition grant from Pori Saskia to Poriginal Gallery. Since then she has participated in several exhibitions in Finland and abroad.

Pajunen’s work deals with the right to exist and the feelings associated with it. He borrows fragments from the surrounding nature and landscape, which sometimes play a central role in his works. Sometimes the windows of a factory become tall, life-limiting bars, sometimes rain and fog become white lines. The human being disappears inside the work or becomes small in the face of the larger masses. Where and how do we exist? How do we relate to the world around us and the obligations that arise from it?

In Poriginal Gallery, Pajunen has collected works completed during the current year. Some of them have existed in the form of ideas for several years. The spatial installations reflect a close relationship with the environment and his own train of thought. The materials used include plastic, light, paper, wood and silicone. Translucent masses and slippery silicone mesh act as stage-like structures in Pajuse’s own world. “Immeasurability is in us. It is linked to a kind of expansion of being, restrained by life and stopped again and again by reflection, but reignited in solitude. As soon as we are still, we are elsewhere; we dream in an immeasurable world. The immeasurable is the movement of the immobile.”-Gaston Bachelard, Poetics of Space.

In addition to her own artistic work, Pajunen is part of a group of women sculptors called the Pie Club, which combines performance, sculpture, joyful togetherness, sharing and community. The group has been active since 2006 and in 2012 it organised the Luomukauneussalonki event at the Pori Art Museum.
The artist thanks the Satakunta Art Council for its support.
https://piirakkakerho.blogspot.fi/

Paula Salmela (b. 1965 in Mänttä, Finland) graduated from the Kankaanpää School of Fine Arts in 2001 and from the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki in 2008. Salmela held her first solo exhibition in 2000 after receiving an exhibition commission from the Porin Saskioi Gallery in Poriginal. Since then she has participated in several exhibitions in Finland and abroad.

Since 2004 she has curated and organised group exhibitions combining contemporary art, historical cultural landscape and nature in the gardens of Staffas Manor in Porvoo during the summer.

The recurring themes in Salmela’s artistic production are man and nature. She has been exploring the power relationship between man and nature in her work since 2001, after living on land invaded by the sea in Flevoland, Holland. Through his artworks, he makes his themes visible, offering the viewer opportunities to expand their understanding. Salmela feels indebted to nature. His personal relationship with nature is reflected in the works as a speech for nature. A strong bond with nature and empathy for the wounded nature of man are concretised in multi-sensory spatial works, sculptures and photographs.

At Poriginal Gallery, Salmela has assembled sculptures and installations related to intensive production and the nature and cellular theme, with the aim of depicting the fragility of nature, but also its resilience and ability to transform. Materials include wood, plants, iron, rubber, steel, bronze and reflections. The works in the exhibition are from the current year.

In addition to her own artistic work, Salmela is a member of a group of women sculptors in the Pie Club, which combines performance, sculpture, joyful togetherness, sharing and community. The group has been active since 2006 and in 2012 it organised the Luomukauneussalonki event at the Pori Art Museum.

The artist would like to thank the Finnish National Board of Fine Arts for its support.
https://www.kuvataiteilijamatrikkeli.fi/fi/taiteilijat/3092
https://piirakkakerho.blogspot.fi/

Translated with DeepL.com