16.5.-7.9.2008 Holvi

Summer Guests

Pekka Pitkänen

Bearer and Renovator of Sculptural Tradition

Pekka Pitkänen (1950) grew up in Jyväskylä’s Kypärämäki neighbourhood. He began studying art in 1970 at a School of Applied Arts. Three years later he transferred to the Finnish Academy of the Arts where he graduated in 1977 from the sculptural department. He now lives and works in Helsinki.

Pitkänen made a real breakthrough in his solo exhibitions in 1979 and 1982 at Gallery Artek in Helsinki. After the exhibition’s critiques, he has been called the Bearer of Sculptural Tradition. In Pitkänen’s case this means modern and at the same time, traditional from as much as one thousand years ago, and yet interpreted anew, in a personal way.

For this exhibition, Pekka Pitkänen has chosen 22 works of art, mainly bronze sculptures, from the years 2005–2009. His work can be characterized as having strong archetypal forms, a surface structure full of nuance and a skilfully finished patina. His sculptures are full of ritual suggestions including themes using symbols of links, bindings or buckles as well as urns, shields, and gateways.

Jyväskylä Art Museum, Holvi
Kauppakatu 23, tel. (014) 626 856
Open Tue-Sun at 11­–18.