Johanna Pöykkö
Demarcation
20 June–14 July 2024
The exhibition is closed on Midsummer Eve and Midsummer Day 21 and 22 June.
As a child, I dragged an old wooden trellis from the yard and placed it between my mattress and the edge of my bed to mark off part of the room as my own space. This memory visualizes my experiences from the past winter – the need for my own space, creating my own space and the right to have some me time.
While I need to spend time in my studio, my child is continuously ill after starting day care. When I paint, I am in my own space, but the moment is too short and squeezed between everything. In the middle of all the information coming from the world, I just want to paint, set boundaries for my space, from where I peek out to see how others are doing when the time is right.
The exhibition examines an individual as part of a family, community and society. Is a space the size of a sheet enough? Is it enough for me? Is it enough for others? The work depicts mental states, inner needs that collide with the external reality. The work sprang from a need to draw boundaries for space and time. At the same time, it is paintings in a space. Play with colors, their relationships and the space between them. For me, exhibitions offer an opportunity to build a visual world of which I can only see parts in my small studio. Boundaries are perceived as obstacles, walls, things to be protected with tanks. Floating light boundaries can be pushed away by hand. Move further away. I need space.
The artist’s work has been supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s North Ostrobothnia Regional Fund, the City of Oulu and VISEK (Centre for the Promotion of Visual Art).
Johanna Pöykkö (b. 1977, Rovaniemi) is an Oulu-based textile and visual artist who has a passion for spatial works. In her art, she deals with a person’s relationship with other people and the surrounding world. Pöykkö uses sheet fabric as her material.
Further information:
johanna.poykko(a)gmail.com
https://kuvataiteilijamatrikkeli.fi/taiteilija/poykko-johanna
