Porin Saskiat ry, Scholarship Exhibition – Anni Karvinen and Reetta Partanen

Anni Karvinen (b. 1987) graduated from Kankaanpää School of Fine Arts in the spring of 2015. This is her first solo exhibition, and it consists of paintings that are a mix of painterly, sketchy, and narrative elements. The works are based on reflecting on the individual and personal experience of the environment, and through that, an understanding of the world. The exploration of this theme began to take shape in the spring of 2014 with the creation of the Avaruussatu (Space Fairy Tale) painting series. Previous works focused on the impact of the awareness of space on our worldviews. In the newer works, there are more references to our own landscape, the forest, and stones. How much of what we see hides secrets that we cannot even perceive or understand through our senses and knowledge? Both painting and real landscapes are filtered by the mind—an individual’s perspective.

Reetta Partanen (b. 1982) is an artist from Kankaanpää, who has also studied social work and image-based therapeutic methods. Partanen works primarily with installation, sculpture, and community art. In her recent exhibitions, video and sound have been new elements. The works maintain a foundation in the tradition of fine arts and craftsmanship, but new techniques, especially the use of recycled and natural materials, bring experimental qualities to the works. In this exhibition, the life and culture of humans and nature seek a way to overlap into a new whole. Thus, the works can be seen either as a concrete metamorphosis of humans and nature or as symbols of society, the essence of humanity, or the human relationship with nature and others. The Porin Saskiat Association’s Scholarship Exhibition is Partanen’s first solo exhibition in Pori.

Translated with ChatGPT