Erik Creutziger
Go-away-bird
Galleria Huuto Jätkä 1
12 – 27 September 2015
Go-away-bird and other celebrations of painting
Erik Creutziger’s solo exhibition Go-away-bird at Galleria Huuto (Jätkäsaari 1) features some of the latest paintings by this versatile contemporary artist. The artist created the title painting when he became interested in birds. Birds have fascinated Creutziger both visually and because of their symbolism. The artist has been intrigued by the mobility of birds as well as their ability to move to a more pleasant environment whenever necessary. Longing and other feelings of freedom associated with birds have been important to the artist, forming the required foundation of work motivation. It has, after all, taken months to complete the painting as it is so rich in detail.
I believe that as an artist Creutziger is a romantic fantasist. Color and dreaminess are a defining characteristic of his work, which is further reinforced by the humorous nature of his paintings. The artist himself talks about how he is fascinated by paradise and in general the longing for another reality. In Creutziger’s paintings the longing for another place is a characteristic of real art. His paintings show us how art can open doors to other realities and how we can move to entirely different worlds by following Creutziger’s fantasies.
Go-away-bird, the title piece of the exhibition, is the result of Creutziger’s desire to explore what happens when you paint one bird after another as if it was a pattern. The birds will maintain their bird characteristics in this process, but the repeated ornamentation makes the differences between them surprising. We see the birds in a new way and individual species become independent visual worlds. Creutziger also points out that the birds go well with his basic themes, humans and landscapes. The birds are fantastic, decorative and full of symbolism. What more could we need?
The Hulda’s house painting is related to the artist’s own experiences. When he was a child, he visited a deserted house where everything was still in place even though no one lived there anymore. Creutziger remembers dreaming and fantasizing about the resident of the house, Hulda, and her life. The strangeness of the house made a great impression on him and now it has taken shape as a painting. The charm of Erik Creutziger’s art is based on its rich fantasies and ability to turn even the most mundane things into a fantastic surprise party. It’s like ending up at the Mad Hatter’s nonstop tea party after going to the local supermarket to buy your daily groceries. His art allows celebrations to occur in the middle of everyday life and he opens up a view to the landscapes of a broader mindset.
Erik Creutziger (b. 1982) is a Helsinki-based artist and Go-away-bird is his seventh solo exhibition. He earned his master’s degree in fine arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in 2013. His artworks are included, for example, in the collections of the Helsinki Art Museum and the Academy of Fine Arts as well as private Finnish collections. Creutziger is a member of the Finnish Painters’ Union.
Juha-Heikki Tihinen, PhD
