Teemu Siika
C’mon, Follow Me Across the Rainbow and I’ll Show You the Way to the Dream Valley.
22 July–14 August 2022
Populism – the age-old plague – now needs more criticism than perhaps ever before. Democracies from Europe to South America are affected by this vicious epidemic. Its direct consequences include Covid denial among the Brazilian leadership, the Capitol attack in the United States and the problems with the rule of law principle in Romania, Poland and Hungary, and Brexit is also related to this phenomenon. Not to mention Putin’s war in Ukraine.
My exhibition C’mon, Follow Me Across the Rainbow and I’ll Show You the Way to the Dream Valley consists of a seven-member group of sculptures, a herd of My Little Pony figures on a scale of 10:1. The ponies are hand built from stoneware and surfaced with engobes. Their manes and tails are made of horsehair. The herd of ponies gives me a way to approach populism by means of satire. The patterns on the ponies and the name of the exhibition offer a key to interpreting the works.
The seven charming members of the herd are Sparkling Boss, Basic Phasic, Baby Q, Baby PS, Stan, Machista and Japie. With Sparkling Boss leading the way, the ponies set out to find their place in the world history with the aim of leaving behind totalitarian societies where only one truth is allowed.
Through the group of sculptures, my aim is to take a stand on the rise of populism, the spread of populist rhetoric in the political arena, the extreme right becoming more refined and the resulting problems in terms of the rule of law principle. Right-wing extremism, local patriotism, an opportunist market economy, and populism have become an almost unnoticeable part of our daily lives, threatening the humane values of Europe and the whole world.
Contact details
teemu.siika(a)gmail.com
+358 50 5375 275
