Laura Nissinen
This One’s For You, Andy
17.8.-4.9.2016
Galleria Huuto Uudenmaankatu
On the Night of the Arts the 25th of August, the artist keeps the exhibition open until 11 pm.
Photographs developed in urine: Ecological urine art at Galleria Huuto
Laura Nissinen’s exhibition “This One’s For You, Andy” opens at Galleria Huuto on Uudenmaankatu on 17 August. The artworks are an ecological statement and pay homage to Andy Warhol. The exhibition is part of Nissinen’s PhD project entitled “Abstraction in Finnish Art Photography”.
The idea of using urine as a developer was inspired by a study which showed that urine is a competitive and environmentally friendly alternative to commercial fertilizers. The artist was also fascinated by Andy Warhol’s series Oxidation Paintings which he created by asking his friends to urinate on his paintings coated with copper paint.
The patterns on Warhol’s paintings were formed as the paint changed its color where it was exposed to the acidic urine. Nissinen has used the same method with her images – the chemicals used on the recycled black and white photographic films and papers react with the urine acids, producing different colors depending on the urine quality and development time.
“Ecological aspects, experimentation and questioning the norms of photography are important in my work. Creating artworks with the help of the human body is against the traditional approach to photography where images are produced with the help of a camera and negatives are handled with white gloves on,” Nissinen says.
The exhibition has been supported by
Arts Promotion Centre Finland and The Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation.
