Porin Saskiat ry, Scholarship Exhibition

Eeva-Leena Eklund and Miia Rinne, Downstairs

The exhibition presents works by two different artists using two different mediums. The artists share a common background—they attended the same elementary, middle, and high school in Pori, as well as the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki. The exhibition is based on the assumption that shared experiences and a long-standing friendship have influenced the artistic expression that Eeva-Leena Eklund has developed in painting and Miia Rinne in video art. At Poriginal Gallery, their works are being presented in the same space for the first time. The hope is that the coexistence of paintings and videos will create a dialogue between them.

Eeva-Leena Eklund
My paintings depict the small things and emotions of everyday life—longing, loneliness, anger, and love. I paint small things into something bigger.

Miia Rinne
In my videos, I explore the human mind and existence. In the piece Fish, a human is juxtaposed with a small aquarium creature. While filming the animal, it stared, bewildered, at its own reflection, which it saw on the LCD screen of a camera turned toward the aquarium. In another work, the starting point was the movement of the human mind between perception, thoughts, imagination, and emotions. This video was filmed in the haunted house rides of amusement parks in Finland, Sweden, and Denmark during the summer of 2002.

Tommi-Vihtori Roström, Upstairs

I have been working as a printmaker in Rauma since 1999. I graduated from the Kankaanpää Art School in the spring of that year with a degree in fine arts/printmaking. Since then, I have actively participated in the activities of Rauma Printmakers and the Rauma Artists’ Association, striving to contribute to the local art scene.

My technique is color metal printmaking, which, due to its versatility, offers limitless possibilities for my main focus—the image itself. My works often depict the relationship between humans, nature, and time, with history being one of my greatest inspirations. The pieces contain narratives of natural history as well as a world shaped by time, personal experiences, and values. I do not aim to make bold statements or disrupt anything; instead, a certain harmony and aesthetic values take precedence over everything else.

A clear, classical composition and form on the picture surface provide the foundation for the themes I depict.

This text was created with AI assistance