PEKKA SYRJÄLÄEI! (NO!) 13.11.2003 – 30.11.2003

In his sculptures and photographs, the Sculptor Pekka Syrjälä (b.1967) explores the interrelationships between language and communication, the written and spoken word. The artist considers the works more introspective than opinion-forming; he has rendered words in sculptural form and photographed a series of speaking mouths.

"My earlier works have dealt with something ‘characteristic´. The starting points have been for example the words ‘UGLY´, ‘NORMAL´ and ‘IDEAL´. Now what´s important is an attitude, a spontaneous reaction and expression of an opinion: NO!, PHEW!"

"A word, written or spoken, gives the work its theme, a precisely defined point of departure. The sculpture´s physical form and material as well as the photograph´s characteristic replication of reality link the intangible word and concept to the surrounding sensory reality. The sculpture and photograph give the word an outline and body that is felt depending on the emotional substance they impart to the experience."

Rauli Heino