Crown of God’s Creation
Helsinki, Photo: Tatu Tuominen
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Crown of God’s Creation is a wall painting made in the lobby of the artist-run gallery Huuto. In the artwork, the imagery of the 16th-century Dutch printmaker Dirk Volkertszoon Coornhert’s Twelve Patriarchs print series is copied and modified. The artist has reproduced some of the figures in the series by tracing their lines on the wall with ink. In this way the historical idea of man is brought in a dialogue with the present time.
Even though the figures depicting virtues of antiquity, stories of the Bible and idealism of the Renaissance seem odd, grotesque and comical now, some things seems not to have changed in half a millennium: a male figure represents humanity, man subordinates other species to his own aspirations, and in the background there is a war going on.
Rosebud I & II
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Rosebud I & II are a pair of two almost identical paintings. One made in Pori Art Museum (2009) and one exhibited in EKA Gallery in Tallinn (2020).
The images are painted with spray paint in the format of a halftone grid. The painting is a recording of its process: One raster dot equals one pressing of a spray paint nozzle.
The paintings depict the same photograph selected from the family album of the artist. Something that was meant for personal recollection is being lifted to the status of an artwork, on public display.