MAKE UP / MAKE DOWN – Jukka Huhtala

The exhibition depicts human faces, their shapes, surfaces, and the way people desperately try to make themselves “more beautiful.” Where is the line drawn? If advertisers claim it’s beautiful to carve one’s face, will people do it?

I’ve always been interested in humans. I started my current study of forms by adding a color to the light on the skin that shouldn’t be there. I painted the shades of light as flat surfaces, half of which I colored bright blue. The result was faces radiating electricity. Through further development, I’ve moved into something more three-dimensional, creating surfaces that make the human form appear somewhat grotesque. The intention wasn’t necessarily to create anti-art, but it quickly brought to mind human corruption and the absurdity of vanity pushed to its extreme.

The works are large oil paintings. The bright-colored, slightly comic-like pieces occasionally reach a vibrating, hypnotic level. The technique is essentially coldly mathematical, with the first layer of color determining where the second layer will go. The result is a bit of a lottery, but that’s what makes this profession even more interesting.

This text was created with AI assistance.