Helsinki Exhibition

Press Release:

Kaapeli – Cable Factory, Helsinki


Oceanic Waves
Holland and the Nordics
21 August – 16 September 2006

Participating Artists: Steven Aalders, Frank Van den
Broeck, Peter Rune Christiansen, Joris Geurts, Esko
Männikkö, Pär Strömberg, Claire Todd.

Curated by: Karel Ankerman

Kaapelitehdas – Puristamo
Tallberginkatu 1, C-staircase 1st.floor, Helsinki
http://www.netherlands.fi

Hosted by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands and the City of Helsinki Cultural Office.




While the Dutch engineer the sea, the Danes battle the
sea, the Swedes sing a hymn to pacify the sea and the
Finnish take refreshment from the cool waters which
surround them. Waterways, oceans and seas cover
seventy-five percent of our planet. A natural
reflective surface where earliest man saw his own
image for the first time. The waves are harbouring an
abundance of life, carrying hopes and conscious dreams
of a new life in a promised land. The vessel of the
self is the body which is sixty percent water,
temporal and fragile it is rocked by the elements.
Through the stillness and open invitation of the
exhibition space, one may agree that the sea is an
embodiment of the collective unconscious.

The artists who participate in Oceanic Waves use
different styles and techniques but they have one
thing in common: the elements of water, sky and light
are the thorough line through the exhibition.

Steven Aalders (1959, Holland) is the Seawall, he
divides the land and the sea with his grid paintings
in the style of Mondriaan and in the colors of the
17th century Dutch masters. In his work he attempts to
embody the essence: the creation of light and space
with paint. Aalders shows paintings from his last
series, entitled Ultima Thule, inspired by this
mythic, remote most Nordic island.

Frank Van den Broeck (1955, Holland) is the Liminal
and represents the ‘in between’ space and the point
where the sea meets the sky. He creates works in an
associative and intuitive way and strives for a
controlled coincidence. Van den Broeck has from the
early eighties on been working steadily and
consistently on his highly individual oeuvre.

Joris Geurts (1958, Holland) is the Horizon, painting
and cutting wood in a perpetual dawn. His approach
leads to a combination of painted passages, printed
patches and open spaces. Above all he is a colourist
who creates paintings and woodcuts in which space,
light and colour predominate.

Claire Todd (1971, Holland) draws and photographs
Companions at Sea, the provision of others to anchor
the time. Her drawings can be read as a handwritten
scenario in which a dialogue between different persons
takes place. The ceramic works are often
site-specific, evoking human need for roots, rhythm
and surrender in form. A recurring theme in her works
is the symbol of drawn or photographed opened hands.

Peter Rune Christiansen (1978, Denmark) is The
Navigator who is influenced by theosophy, romanticism
and fluxus. His work decodes and creates new complex
and unpredictable systems. Christiansen’s paintings
can be seen as musical scores or topographical
landscapes that develop in vivid ways and contains
deep layers of information in spite of their delicate
appearance.

Pär Strömberg (1971, Sweden) is the Magician waking
the moonlight in the forest depths. His paintings have
developed into a registration of the landscape of his
native country Sweden. The beauty and freedom it
speaks about, has an ever so underlying threatening
side. In his latest work he has also shown an interest
in occult rites and myths of the pagan in heritage and
folklore tales of the vast and dense landscape of the
North.

Esko Männikkö (1959, Finland) is the Fisherman landing
his catch from the waterfront. The artist photographs
the landscape and the elderly bachelors in remote
areas of his native Finland and exhibits them all over
the world. In his works he shows the individual ‘the
way they are’ without the slightest manipulation. As a
result every image is as different as the people
photographed. Männikkö will make a new series of ten
large panoramic landscape pictures for this
exhibition.

A publication, including a guide to the works on
display will accompany this exhibition and will be
available at Kaapeli – Puristamo Hall.

Kaapeli – Cable Factory
Open Mo.-Fri. 11.00 – 7 pm
Sat.-Sun 11.00 – 6 pm
Phone: +358 9 47638330
Info: http://www.netherlands.fi


Pär Strömberg

http://www.parstromberg.com
http://www.artnews.info/parstromberg