JURY: HE, Markus Luiro, Laura Myllykangas, Paavo Paunu
Based on internal discussions, the associations nominated three members to the Pori Art Museum for the exhibition selection committee: Paavo Paunu (The Artist’ Association of Rauma), Laura Myllykangas (Nyte ry), and Markus Luiro (The Artist’ Association of Pori).
The 2016 exhibition program at Poriginal Gallery starts with a group exhibition, HE, featuring visual artists representing the artist associations.
The exhibition includes works from each member of the group as well as collaborative pieces.
Paavo Paunu (b. 1965, Tampere) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts from 1986 to 1991. Paunu works in painting, sculpture, and installation.
“Human form – it’s a meeting point for emotions, desires, beliefs, and truth.
Most of the works on display are made on wooden planks removed from Chinese loading pallets. You can do almost anything with wood – carve, cover, sand, and paint again. I’m interested in the roughness of the material and the marks left by travels. Wood grows, forms branches, and its grain creates patterns. Wood represents shapes and suggests them.”
Laura Myllykangas (b. 1985, Kannus) graduated as a sculptor from Kankaanpää School of Fine Arts in 2010.
“I build my works around the combination of three-dimensional form and photography. The black-and-white sculptures and installations often consist of cotton textiles, cushioning, wood, and photographic prints. Works based on soft and organic materials meet industrial aesthetics, using visual elements from the world of toys and pop culture. Childhood figures, however, no longer necessarily appear in their soft and safe form, but sometimes grow into monsters, and the sought-after safety turns out to be unreliable or distorted. In the photomontages, fragmented parts regenerate into new forms, creating new levels and combinations, aiming to create representations of a reality that cannot be captured by a camera alone.”
Markus Luiro (b. 1985, Rovaniemi) graduated from Kankaanpää School of Fine Arts in 2011. Luiro’s primary mediums of expression have been painting, drawing, and performance.
“Most of the works on display are drawings completed in the last two years, born from numerous attempts, repetition, and routine. Later, I have viewed them through a different lens, as if created by someone else, and have been able to see and think about them from a sufficient distance, so that the original intentions and early feelings of failure may have been completely forgotten. At the same time, I have revisited images from further back in the past and tried to create connections with newer works. In all of the images, you can see various processes of experience, memory, and thinking.”
Translated with ChatGPT