JYRKI PARANTAINENBetween Heaven and Earth - Collages and photographs 7.1.2012 – 29.1.2012

JYRKI PARANTAINEN

My current exhibition, Between Heaven and Earth, represents a departure from my usual medium of photography. In the course of my twenty-year artistic career, it has been my habit to cross over between 2D and 3D forms of expression from time to time as a way of keeping my thinking fresh. It also reflects my desire to work with my hands.

My works mainly address spiritual, immaterial themes examined through delicate small-scale objects and transparent materials. I am interested in exploring myths, emotions and the world of ideas as well as religious issues from a secular point of view. I construct commentaries on humanity and art, always with at least an undertone of absurdist humour.

This exhibition consists of small-scale object installations. My chosen materials include gold, silver, brass, hardwood, glass, steel and feathers. The design and construction phases opened up a window into my own past, to a time when I was very much concerned with craftsmanship and items of this scale. In other words, it represented the re-discovery of a long-forgotten passion. I draw much of my inspiration from the strategies and expression of the fluxus network, dadaism and surrealism.

Here, my creative process has been different. Normally, I would start with a concept and only then progress on to the practical implementation stage. This time, my focus has been on collecting objects and materials, tinkering, testing, familiarising myself with what I am working on. As I have got to know the objects better, I have forged a closer relationship with some of them, a process that has concluded in a form of dialogue. Some of the objects have remained more distant and their time will come later, or perhaps never.

In the course of creating these works, scale has been essential. Almost my entire career has been spent working with large-scale photographs, installations and processes. Now it is time for silence and contemplation. To me, this process has been an exercise in creative fine-tuning.

Jyrki Parantainen

Between Heaven and Earth is Jyrki Parantainen´s (b. 1962) second private exhibition at Galleria Heino. Paratainen is known for his Helsinki Festival exhibition at the Amos Anderson Art Museum in 2006 and his Tuli - Fire exhibition at the Ateneum Art Museum in 1999.

Parantainen was awarded the Fotofinlandia prize in 1989 and the National Arts Council Suomi prize in 1998.He is currently Professor of Photography at the Aalto University School of Art and Design.