Päivi Meriläinen: Retrospective

Nov 5. – Jan 16. Holvi

The retrospective exhibition celebrates Päivi Meriläinen's (born 1959 in Piippola) career of the past 30 years. She has graduated as a painter from the Art School of Lahti in 1980. She has lived and worked in Jyväskylä since 1981.

In time she has been working with plenty of different kind of techniques and materials. She has painted abstract as well as figurative and monumental works. Furthermore she has sculptured reliefs and other works of wood and fibreclass. In recent years Meriläinen has focused more on large figurative oil paintings.

There are seen three main themes in the exhibition. The home theme embodies mostly sensible drawings of the daughter Tuisku. Artist's main work Apostles is part of the religion theme. It is painted on thirteen wooden boards. Instead of Jesus and twelve Christian disciples Meriläinen presents contemporary female colleagues from Central Finland. She herself is the thirteenth in the shape of Judas Iscariot. Third theme is the motherland. Meriläinen does emphasize the significance of the women in life.