JUSSI NIVABlind Spots 13.2.2004 – 29.2.2004
from series Blind Spots, 2003-2004 (2 parts)oil on MDF-board
122 x 160 / 68,5 x 122 cm
Jussi Niva´s (born 1966) new series of pictures is called Blind Spots. According to the artist, narration also featured in his previous set of works, Fine Tuning, which portrays electronic image and sound. This time, however, the works have a definite narrative look.
In Blind Spots, Jussi Niva portrays the same event - driving by car in the dark - from different dramaturgical angles. Illustrative effects help tell the story, something that is typical for storyboards or cartoon narratives. Niva integrates the literary elements - car, road, camera and rear mirror - into abstracts, impressions of the light and traffic, thus highlighting the empirical nature of the narrative. A driver is blinded by the lights of oncoming or rear traffic and the moving cars leave a trail of light behind them. Something happens in time and space. The work does not identify one image at a time, but like an installation. Indeed, Niva says that he uses painting methods to examine one way of telling something.
Jussi Niva has problematicised and examined painting in many different ways in his production. His art has been displayed in several major international exhibitions including Kassel Dokumenta (1992), Venice Biennial (1993), Ars 95 and the Carnegie Art Award exhibition.
Rauli Heino
