PAINTINGS – Susanna Vuorio

The exhibition presents for the first time in Pori the oil paintings by Susanna Vuorio. Most of the paintings have been completed this spring. Her paintings deal with life and current events.

To Vuorio, painting is a way of thinking, to deal with the question “what’s going on here?” Her works are created in the process. She doesn’t plan ahead and doesn’t use the help of already existing images.

One of the paintings in the show is called “Sorting”. The question is, does this refer to an occupation, are we sorting goods, food, or people. The lack of hands makes one think of today’s technology, when physical work is dimingishing and hands are no longer needed. Another painting is called “Let’s Make Cuts”. It’s about the people who take the hit of the budget cuts the current government of Finland is making. The expressive style allows different interpretations. Vuorio doesn’t want to put her paintings into words, or to preach. She doesn’t want to just illustrate convictions that are already fixed.

Vuorio depicts themes like aging, alcoholism, hurdles of society. Themes like this are not always very nice, but she tries to approach them with compassion and also with humor.

With her sprawling and improvisatory brushwork she encourages the viewer to empathize with the characters, situations and the clamor of life in her paintings.

SUSANNA VUORIO (b. 1977) is a painter born in Lahti. Nowadays she lives and works in Turku. She studied painting at the Free Art School in Helsinki and completed her studies in 2006. She has exhibited her works in numerous solo and group exhibitions. She has works in the collections of the State of Finland, the Wihuri Foundation, Tampere Museum of Art and Basware, among others.

Susanna Vuorio thanks the Finnish Cultural Foundation and Arts Promotion Centre Finland for supporting her work.