My life
April 20 – May 27, Lower gallery
This spring, the Jyväskylä Art Museum turns it’s regard to the budding generation of young artists. In correlation with the museum’s main exhibition ”Generation”, which presents work by artists aged 15–23 from around Finland, the museum’s lower gallery shows work by Jyväskylä’s own youth.
The artists for this exhibition were chosen by the high school art teachers Heidi Möller-Virtanen from Schilt, Maria Mäkivirta from Muurame, Tuula Railo and Satu Joutsensalo from Lyseo, and assisted by visual artist Anna Ruth together with assistant in civilian service Vilho Polamo, who graduated from Schildt High School in 2017. The exhibition layout was designed by Anna Ruth.
Presented in this exhibition is artwork by: Edit Hakasalo, Siiri Hämäläinen, Miranda Koskelainen, Ilmo Kurki, Laura Laine, Marko Laine, Emmi-Julia Lehtonen, Kaija Nieminen, Anni Niittylahti, Muusa Pennanen, Vilho Polamo, and Viljami Viitanen. The work by these young artists draws from the diverse practices of drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, sound, digital art and short film.
Through their work, the young artists fearlessly expose their thoughts and feelings. The opportunity to present their work in this formal setting also pushes them to take a bold step in standing up for who they are right here and now. The content of the work shown in this exhibition deals with various dualities of life: good and evil, joy and longing, loneliness and belonging, lawful and wrong, perfection and flawed, common and unusual and other polarities that pulsate through their lives at this moment in time.
Edit Hakasalo:
My work depicts small pleasures that are important to me personally as to many other Finns, that can in the end mean so much to us. For this piece I have used ink, watercolours and coloured pencils.
Siiri Hämäläinen:
In collaboration with Emmi-Julia Lehtonen, I created a photograph about good and evil.
Miranda Koskelainen:
My digital drawing is inspired by the idea that opposites complement each other, and I have drawn on the passion and feelings of youth to depict this concept.
Ilmo Kurki
For this exhibition I created glitched images, that is, images modified with the aid of computer generated errors, and different three dimensional computer rendered images.
Laura Laine:
For this exhibition, I made an interactive sculpture out of wire and paper mâché. My subject is about being left alone.
Marko Laine:
Through the process of Automatic Drawing I used my subconscious to draw my thoughts and feelings without preconceived planning or thought. As suggested by Anna Ruth, the drawing process does not need to last longer than brushing your teeth, but it is important to draw a couple of times every day.
Emmi-Julia Lehtonen:
For this piece I used recycled materials to talk about feminism and the rights of different minorities.
Anni Niittylahti:
I photographed normal things that for some reason, you don’t usually see on social media. The photographs are compiled in a real Instagram account, which makes the piece interactive. The theme is focused on the polished side of my life, which today, because of social media, is also everyone else’s life too.
Kaija Nieminen:
My video work Stripped shows the vulnerability and sensitivity of a person in love.
Muusa Pennanen:
For this project, I drew and painted with computer and tablet programmes. The subject matter comes from my personal life and this piece depicts my safe space, where I spend most of my time.
Vilho Polamo:
I have enhanced Viljami Viitanen’s work through digital conversion, music and sound.
Viljami Viitanen:
I drew several characters which were then made into a special kind of installation work.