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Open hours Exhibition Works Book CV To main page To Sari Bremer´s page
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Going 500 years back in time, in order to take one step forward In the 1980s, Kuutti Lavonen was already saying that as an artist he is a historian. He repeatedly employs this specific concept to sum up his artistic approach. Twenty years ago, a horde of contemporary artists from various countries joined this same historicist clan, but over the years, the drop-out rate has been catastrophic. Or it might be that, within a few years of historicist art ceasing to be topical, the artists that represented it had also fallen outside the artworld's publicity spotlight. He says he always starts his work by drawing. The lines lay down a Raphael-esque perfect form, but in the next instant also follow the nerve pathways of emotion. The colour follows both the outlines of the black chalk and its own rules. In the extreme case the colour runs through the perfect, finished form. During the working process, the space receding into the artwork's one vanishing point begins to turn towards the viewer. This is precisely what manifests the emotional presence of the current moment, just as though it were creating a shared space between the artwork and the viewer. Especially in his large facial portraits Lavonen creates the same humanising gesture using photograph-like sharp croppings. He remembers having placed the first facial portraits onto his own face, like masks, which involved making historicists' pictures part of his own self-scrutiny and search for identity. Frequently he has also amalgamated his friends' features into the larger-than-life imagery of classicism. Nowadays, a central role is played by bringing out emotional states to give the maximum effect, and in so doing the art-historical context is always combined with the personal. Hannu Castrén 
32 €The book is available at the museum shop, in some book stores and through the web. Order now! You will be billed in advance with 32 € + handling and postage costs.Sold out! |
