Printed Image Shifts into the Private Realm
Forum Box presents Private Archives – a joint exhibition by Jussi Juurinen, Ari Pelkonen and Tatu Tuominen.
31 August – 24 September 2018.
Jussi Juurinen, Ari Pelkonen and Tatu Tuominen have been developing Finnish printmaking individually for more than ten years. While they have been exchanging ideas ever since they attended art school together, Private Archives is their first joint exhibition.
Private Archives grapples with issues of printed matter but not with a medium-specific approach. The work situates itself in an intermedial space among printed matter, painting, process art, installation, moving image and sound. By creating distance from the image itself,the works come together to evoke concepts of matrix and archive. The exhibition poses a question: What new meanings does printed matter convey when viewed from here and now?
The starting point of the work by Tatu Tuominen is a book on modern architecture (The Future of Architecture Since 1889, Phaidon , 2012). Tuominen uses the pages of the book as source material. Items on display include a series of architectural collages which intrude on the boundary between image and frame. In Tuominen’s video which accompanies the collage series, the image shred of modernism, hover and float past the viewer. The urban debris and sound collage could be seen as an archive of our way of life viewed from the far future. And what does the pulsating overhead projector communicate?
In Ari Pelkonen’s series of work he treads the boundary between humane and inhumane – between painted and carved in matrix. Executed by means of graining and woodcut, the image of man unravels into the surface of a block of birch veneer. In an installation comprised of a video projection and a woodblock, the auteur paints a stage-like space which is sometimes open, sometimes closed. In the past, printing has served as a means to disseminate knowledge and classify information. Pelkonen uses these means to disseminate another type of information: that which is filed under “Private.”
Jussi Juurinen’s body of work deals with the archive of original print: The limited editions are substituted by milling a series of blocks and possible “infinite” amount of print variations. The algorithm coded within Juurinen’s animation work draws on arbitrary variations of images from the patterns of woodblocks stored in an archival cabinet also on display. If the viewer wishes to see each variant, they would have to spend over 8000 years beside the piece. That stint is not infinite but borders the limits of our imagination.
The work in the exhibition is defined by the actual making of it, the qualities of the material and chance. Instead of the ephemeral images provided by our digitalized world, Private Archives offers materiality, the analogue and a possibility to have a face-to-face encounter with the artwork. In an era where the printed word and image can be fleeting and disturbingly impersonal, these works ask the viewer to occupy a private, sensual space.
The exhibition is supported by The Alfred Kordelin Foundation and The Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture AVEK.
The publication Future Archives is available at the exhibition. Read the text by Inkamaija Iitiä here.
Download the press photos here.
About the artists
Jussi Juurinen (b. 1976) is a visual artist living in Vantaa. The technique of woodcut is the starting point of Juurinen’s practise, although his pieces are spatial entities. Juurinen has graduated from Aalto University in 2011 and works as a Lecturer in Vocational College of Pekka Halonen. His work has been featured in Lahti, Riihimäki, Hyvinkää and Lapua Art Museums, Kunsthalle Helsinki, Seinäjoki Art Hall and Mänttä Art Festival. Juurinen has had solo exhibitions in Porvoo Art Hall, Galleria G and Galleria Kone. His works are featured in collections of numerous institutions such as The Finnish State Art Collection, Vantaa and Jyväskylä Art Museum, Finnish Academy of Fine Arts and Kätilöopisto Maternity Hospital. Juurinen was nominated as a candidate for Queen Sonja Print Award in 2016.
www.jussijuurinen.com
Ari Pelkonen (b. 1878 in Pori) is known for his work that brings together painting and woodcut printmaking. Pelkonen gratuated as a Master of Fine arts from the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 2007 and he was nominated The Young Artist of the Year 2012. Pelkonen has had solo exhibitions in Galleria AMA and Tampere Art Museum among other venues. His works have been featured in Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova, Galleria Kunstverket in Oslo, Western Exhibition Gallery in Chicago and in Jyväskylä, Vantaa and Salo Art Museums. His work is featured in collections of institutions such as Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum, The Finnish State Art Collection, Saastamoinen Foundation, Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation, The Paulo Foundation and in the collections of several Finnish Museums.
aripelkonen.com
Tatu Tuominen (b. 1975) is a visual artist from Helsinki. His work addresses architecture, ideals of living and memory. In his practice he uses different media: printmaking, video, installations, painting and drawing. He graduated as Master of Fine Arts from The Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 2006 and works there currently as the Lecturer in Printmaking. His work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions in numerous institutions such as Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum; Lahti, Rovaniemi and Lapua Art Museums; MOCA Shanghai; TR1 Kunsthalle in Tampere; Constellation Studios in Lincoln, USA and HilbertRaum in Berlin. His work is featured in collections of institutions such as Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum, The Finnish State Art Collection, HAM Helsinki Art Museum and The National Library of France.
tatutuominen.com