Virva Kanerva
Behave yourself
Galleria Huuto Jätkäsaari – Jätkä 2
15-30 July 2017
Last August I was looking at the still water and realized that the line between life and death is like the fabric surface of a trampoline that has been left outside for a couple of winters. If you’re lucky, you can jump for a long time and nothing happens. You may do a few somersaults and fall uncontrollably but you will always bounce back on your feet. However, at some point you will hit a worn spot and before you know it, you will be on the other side. My father had been jumping carelessly for a long time and the trampoline had also been sitting outside for years. It was pure luck that the fabric only gave way now.
The works in the exhibition can be divided into two categories. Some have been completed before and others after August. They all, however, depict the weirdness of humanity, truths behind clichés, love, fear, grief, anger and shame as well as death and survival. How can one be a real human and what does it look like? The works are based on kitsch-like nostalgia spiced up with influences from popular culture, religion, myths and fairy tales. In the background is an interest in what we consider cute and approachable and why.
Virva Kanerva (b. 1983) lives and works in Lahti. She aimlessly collects old toys, items and furniture and justifies it to herself by saying that she needs them for her art. She creates sculptures, installations and environmental art using a variety of materials. Recently she has created sculptures of human animals and drawn influences from the Virgin Mary image types.
Further information:
Virva Kanerva
+358 40 771 1694
kanervavirva(at)gmail.com
