Mika Karhu 1.11. - 22.11.2009
As an artist I am interested in understanding the emotional layers of our past. If we are unable to understand the evolution of man as a cultural and social being, and mankind’s constructed history, we will be incapable of comprehending scientific theories, art or various conceptions of a human being. A deep understanding of the phenomena generated by human conduct is impossible, unless we are able to see how these actions and phenomena have evolved in a first place. And above all, we must be conscious of the conditions that have prevailed when the new forms of conduct have originated.
The constructs of each prevailing cultural and social conducts have arisen and been shaped through historically transmitted information and actions; consequently new actions are always built, inevitably, on the basis of conditions that are already existent. The past and present are thus engaged systemically.
It is out fate that the past and future are a part of our social and cultural conduct, the former as a memory, and the latter as a plan. As an artist I am interested in the tensions of this experiential loop, in which social meanings concurs with emotional interconnectivity.
Mika Karhu
Mika Karhu (b. 1969), visual artist, art researcher and curator, is one of the five candidates to receive the Ars Fennica 2009 Award. The critical examinations of Mika Karhu’s charcoal drawings and pigment proofs focus on the signs and meanings of the social world, particularly control, authority and displacement, as well as the dialog of normality and abnormality. Karhu earned his MA at the University of Art and Design Helsinki in 2000 and is currently working on his doctoral thesis. During his intensive career he has participated in several group exhibitions, in Finland and abroad, and had solo exhibitions regularly. His works can be found in several domestic collections and can also be viewed at Kiasma, in the joint exhibition of the five Ars Fennica 2009 candidates. The exhibition in Kiasma is open until 10 January 2010.
Female Christ, 2008 |
Frontier 3, 2009 |
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The dew of sun’s light freezes into the deep throat of history, 2009 |
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It will never vanish, 2009 |
Nerve flower beats alone in history, 2009 |
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A scenery of sounds rub out from the ends of growth, 2009 |
From a distance together, 2009 |
