Jussi Pyky
DOUBT
8.11. – 1.12.2019
Sat 23.11. the exhibitions are open until 6 pm.
I have a memory from my childhood – a white flower pictured on a yogurt cup. I clearly remember how I later found the same flower in a nearby forest. It is a chickweed wintergreen, also known as an arctic starflower. A few years ago, this memory suddenly came back to me. I found a picture of the flower on the internet. There was something weird about the way it looked. I read that it is one of the few flowers that regularly have seven petals.
Last spring and summer I read about symbols, myths, religions and psychology, among other things. I was surprised to see another picture of the flower with seven petals when reading Carl Gustav Jung’s book Psychology and Alchemy. In another book, Alchemy: An Introduction to the Symbolism and Psychology, Jung writes that “the alchemical seven-petalled flower, symbolising the seven planets and seven stages of transformation, relates psychologically to ‘evolution of time’, the slow process of becoming conscious”.
The name of the exhibition, DOUBT, refers to the questioning of the above-mentioned idea. The possibility of developing as an individual constantly clashes with the tragic nature of life, tearing everything apart, and the uncertainty about its meaning. The past seems to define an individual at every level. Based on the above, a person tries to artificially identify with various ideologically opposed, conflict-seeking groups. All groups, nations and empires have shown this warlike attitude throughout the history of mankind in pursuit of success as a group at the expense of other groups.
The exhibition features dozens of drawings on paper. I have created most of them this year. My plan is to hang the works thematically in groups, which is also how I worked on them. It has been liberating to draw on paper, in comparison with the slower and more laborious process of using oil paints.
Jussi Pyky (b. 1985, Tyrnävä, Finland) lives and works in Helsinki. He graduated from the Lahti Institute of Fine Arts in 2009 and earned his Master of Fine Arts degree from the Academy of Fine Arts (University of the Arts Helsinki) in 2016. He has had several solo exhibitions in Finland and abroad and taken part in many group and joint exhibitions. Pyky is a member of the Lahti Artists’ Association and the artist group Hydra.
The exhibition and the artist’s work have been supported by Hilkka Silvekoski Foundation, The Paulo Foundation and The Arts Promotion Centre Finland.
jussipyky(at)hotmail.com
