Anni Arffman & Elina Strandberg
IMAGINE LIFE
Galleria Huuto / Jätkäsaari 2
22 August – 7 September 2014
Opening on the Night of the Arts, Thursday 21 August, 6–8 pm
Welcome!
What if you were applying to study or work at the institute of gods?
Entrance assignment: Create a world: Free choice of technique and tools.
The artists behind the exhibition, Anni Arffman from Oulu and Elina Strandberg from Helsinki, engaged in an email dialog during the spring of 2014, playing with major themes and using the joint exhibition as a laboratory for their ideas and the processing thereof.
“The name ‘Imagine life’ reminds me of the medieval phrase ‘memento mori’ – ‘remember that you will die’. I like the name. It is concise and also includes the thought of imagining a new life form and an artist or human’s role to just imagine life (instead of living it). Create a world – Imagine life – Remember death.”
“And here is the painting that I started with. I have used medieval plant imagery from Islamic art as a model and some are my own creations. So indeed, it would be fun if I focused on history and you had a more futuristic approach. The idea behind the painting was that the gardens of paradise and hell are in layers and because one is red and the other is green, the overall look is gray. So basically the idea is that I don’t believe in either. But maybe the pursuit of gray is impossible. Your prickly ball flowers are like a sci-fi version of my weird tree! My plants, just like yours, also include some raunchy elements. “
“More game characters have been created. I wonder if life immediately creates more life.”
“When I imagine death, I inevitably imagine life more because I cannot imagine death. I have developed many stories that led to death. Some accidents and other slightly creepy stuff, like ghost stories.
Such things easily come to mind in an abandoned house.”
“But are we now talking more about death than life? On the other hand, a Nobel physicist once said that death is just one of life’s opportunities. In many ways death is interesting as an event. Maybe it could be said that it is also a kind of adventure.”
“I have done some croquis watercolors in which I play with the thought of the trace a fleeing spirit would leave on the paper. Your fragile mask would be a good discussion partner for my spirits.”
“I am interested in combinations of contradictory elements in art. I ran into a nice passage with regard to this topic in Hermann Hesse’s novel Narcissus and Goldmund:
‘Unlike other figures, her mystery does not consist of this or that detail… It consists of a fusion of the greatest contrasts of the world, those that cannot otherwise be combined, that have made peace only in this figure. They life in it together: birth and death, tenderness and cruelty, life and destruction.’”
Anni Arffman is an Oulu-based artist whose ideas often drive her to try new techniques. For several years she has been developing layer paintings in which the layers combine different people and atmospheres. Her latest works combine photographs rescued from a dilapidated abandoned house with vector graphics printed on plexiglas. She has created new meanings and fates for the forgotten people and landscapes in the pictures.
Elina Strandberg is a Helsinki-based sculptor and painter who loves working with light and color. Her sculptures are made from paper, fabric and plastic and she paints with acrylic paint and tempera. In this exhibition she has combined paintings with sculptures.
Further information:
Anni Arffman
arffman.anni(at)gmail.com
www.anniarffman.com
Elina Strandberg
elinastran(at)gmail.com
www.elinastrandberg.com
The exhibition has been supported by Oulun Saskiat ry.
