Roy Aurinko
Medusa’s Mirror
30.4.-23.5.2021
Galleria Huuto is open on May Day (1st of May) from 12-5pm, welcome!
Please enter from the inner yard side: Kalevankatu 43.
Paintings of imagined sublimity
In the works featured in this exhibition, I examine ways of looking: distancing observations from the object and making one’s observations more sublime. As my starting point, I have used an optical device used for examining landscapes. Also known as black mirror, the device was named after Claude Lorrain, a French 17th-century landscape painter.
In the 18th century, landscapes were considered esthetically crude when viewed with the naked eye. Through the Claude glass, those examining the view imagined that they were looking at a beautiful painting instead of vulgar nature. After finding a particularly picturesque landscape, a person would take the Claude glass, turn their back to the landscape and examine it through the mirror that cropped and blurred the view, making it more esthetically pleasant. The Claude glass is related to the concept of sublime developed in the 18th century, according to which a person’s feelings reflect natural phenomena and one receives imagined sublimity and greatness as if they were part of the phenomenon. I approach the concept of sublime from the perspective of visual arts where one could think that the aim is to achieve an esthetic experience or perhaps event feelings of holiness, manifested as astonishment, respect and wonder both when seeing the final work and while working on it.
The name of the exhibition refers to Italo Calvino’s interpretation of the Greek myth, according to which Medusa’s eyes, which will turn one to stone, can only be avoided by observing the monster through a reflection. Calvino interprets the myth so that, in literature, heavy topics should be approached indirectly, through lightness and reflections. In my mind, the Italian writer’s view resonates in the nature of abstract painting that consciously distances itself from the representation of the visible world.
Roy Aurinko (b. 1972) is a visual artist who lives and works in Heinola, Finland. He earned his Master of Arts degree from the University of Lapland. Aurinko is known for large abstract paintings with a grotesque and expressive style. The work process and the feel of the material are present in his works. The artist mainly uses a mixed technique (oil, acrylic, pastel and cement), combining painting with elements of drawing. The exhibition at Galleria Huuto is Roy Aurinko’s 18th solo exhibition.
The exhibition has been supported by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland.
Contact information:
polaroy(a)me.com
050 5700 909
