Eeva Honkanen
The Owl’s Head
8 – 31 January 2021
The exhibition was inspired by the triptych “The Garden of Earthly Delights”, painted by Hieronymus Bosch in the early 16th century. Bosch often used owls in his paintings in a symbolical manner, placing them in a threatening atmosphere. In the work that has the same name as the exhibition, “The Owl’s Head” (2.4 m x 3.9 m), the owl’s role has been turned upside down – it is no longer just passively watching what is happening, instead it has been given the central role of a narrator.
In bird symbolism, owls have a divided role. They represent both wisdom and the light of knowledge and also darkness and death. Owls are usually only active at night, and it has been considered an omen for bad luck and death if you see an owl in daylight.
In the ink drawing “The Owl’s Head”, the owl formed by a gigantic head sees around oneself better than a human, like an oracle. The owl’s head conceals flashes of human bodies, consumed by their desire for acceptance, love, power or material goods. People see signs of change around them, but they are not quite sure what is going on. Beyond the horizon, the Statue of Liberty and the southern tip of Manhattan have already been partly covered by the rising sea level.
The exhibition features ink drawings that are about seeing, interpreting one’s experience of seeing and facing it all. Instead of certain truths, the owl seen in the works acts as an allegory of unpredictability, also including elements of uncertainty and paradoxicality. It depicts people’s unsuccessful isolation from the world, while eroding the line we have drawn between ourselves and others. In reality, people are just part of a whole.
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Eeva Honkanen graduated from Aalto University in 2010 (Master of Arts, Department of Art). She is a visual artist who creates ink drawings on paper. Her artistic work is based on her observations on the uncertainty and unpredictability of the surrounding reality. In her drawings, the artist explores the essence of a human being, freedom, fears and the uncontrollability of life, while highlighting the importance of being present and living in the moment. In 2020, Honkanen’s artistic work has been supported by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland.
The Owl’s Head exhibition is part of an artistic process that started in New York in 2017. You can read more about it here: http://fciny.org/news/alumni-spotlight-eeva-honkanen
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