Strange Attraction - Works from Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation Collection

The exhibition Strange Attraction, compiled from the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation Collection, fittingly conceals a wide array of oddities, peculiarities, contrasts, and allure. The feeling of attraction manifests in the works as physical, mental, and emotional. Major themes include love, longing, eroticism, and dreams, sometimes taking on nightmarish forms. The works raise questions about identity, self, conventionality and unconventionality, and the ever-changing ideals in society, life, and art itself. The painting Greedy Little Love depicts a familiar emotion as a monstrously fleshly figure. Despite its title, the figure does not appear frightening, but rather sympathetic due to its insatiable hunger. Emmi Kallio's (b. 1981) characteristic physical and exuberantly abundant painting style conveys the feelings of heartache and frustration caused by this little monster. At the core of Juha van Ingen's (b. 1963) artistic thinking are integrity, focus, and independence. Described as laconic, the artist is known as an observer of everyday life. In his photographs, small and obvious things appear in new forms and new ways, without explanations or drama. In the Stripes series, van Ingen has condensed images of famous artists' paintings found online into strictly minimalist stripes, transforming the images into visual poetry. Inflatable, breathing sculpture Volume (plantae spiritus cannapaceus) by Timo Aho (b. 1980) comments on the conflict between the modern environment and nature, playing with materials and imagery familiar from consumer society. The form, made of synthetic fabric, vaguely resembles a plant, but instead of water and sunlight, its sustaining force is an electric air blower. Jukka Silokunnas's (b. 1982) stop-motion animation Transporter depicts an abandoned van. Although the odometer doesn't move, the van is in constant motion as it disassembles into smaller and smaller pieces on the garage floor, eventually wiping away like dust from the frame. Central to Silokunnas's artistic expression are breaking and messing things up. In the artist's words: "Everyone should break down a bit of themselves". In the painting Melancholia by Nina Roos (b. 1956), one of Finland's most renowned painters, one can see references to Albrecht Dürer's etchings and Lars von Trier's film of the same name. The dark, circular shape in the work floats as if in a soft, immaterial space. The almost monochromatic color palette consists of gentle shades of red, brown, and violet.

The exhibition has been named after Saara Ekström's photograph Strange Attraction (From series Excess and Ascesis), 2010.

Artists of the exhibition: Timo Aho · HC Berg · Mirza Cizmic · Saara Ekström · Petri Hytönen · Johanna Ilvessalo · Juha van Ingen · Anssi Jääskeläinen · Emmi Kallio · Pasi Karjula · Jukka Korkeila · Janne Laine · Anni Leppälä · Peetu Liesinen · Reija Meriläinen · Antti Oikarinen · Riitta Päiväläinen · Aurora reinhard · anna retulainen · nina Roos · Emma Sarpaniemi · Jukka Silokunnas · Mari Sunna · Jan Kenneth Weckman · Risako Yamanoi The exhibition mainly comprises new works aquired in 2022–23.