The mediocre film Four Weddings and a Funeral describes my year 2007 rather well. It was a year of big ceremonies: The funeral of a dear person, pregnancy and giving birth to twins, and one wedding. With all this as a background, my exhibition in Galleria Huuto focuses on the various highlights of life as well as the dramatic color scheme of Finnish celebrations. Since festivities and rites of passage are culture-bound, my works can probably be regarded as extra Finnish.
The basis for my paintings is Finnish family albums and the photographs portraying celebrations and funerals. It is surprising how unchanging they are: Decade after decade, an elderly person is portrayed, on their birthday, in the middle of flowers. Often, in works with a festive theme, people are carrying out a pre-agreed ceremony. This element of still life can be sensed in my paintings. The color scheme – black and white – aspires to solemnity, too (Valkoinen on juhlan väri, or ‘White is the color of celebration’; a series of watercolors).
In addition to all the festiveness, I present a series of multicolored paintings. By portraying the home of a late person, the paintings deal with trivial memories. Often, the sharp visual image of a dead person vanishes quickly from our mind and, instead, memories are more strongly built through everyday spaces and objects.
The opening will be held Tuesday, April 15, 2008, at 6–8 pm. Welcome!
Erika Adamsson
Tel. +358 44 906 4996
Email: erika.adamsson@gmail.com
