Jyrki Markkanen – Collections/ Areas

Gallery 11.2.−19.3.2023

The solo exhibition of Jyrki Markkanen (b. 1956 Uurainen, central Finland) presents the work of a long-standing printmaker. Markkanen worked at the Ratamo Printmaking Centre in Jyväskylä from the early 1980s until the last few years, when he moved to Imatra in 2016, where he currently lives and works. Since the early years, the focus of the artist's work has shifted from traditional printmaking techniques to photography and old printmaking methods, as well as three-dimensional works.

The Collections / Areas exhibition at the museum features printworks, as well as new works combining sculpture and printmaking, and video. Markkanen collects, records and photographs objects and things, often resulting in serial works, such as the photo-etching series Kama-Atlas (2018−2019), which was born out of the artist's attempt to map and containerise the stuff that has accumulated in his studio.

Despite the humour and apparent lightness of the works, their message is clear.  The series Collection: appropriation and storage (2020−2022) comments on the way humanity uses water with the same irresponsibility as other natural resources. The destroyed surface of the wagon in On the Track (2022) has been replaced by a new surface, which has also been destroyed. The wagon is on a continuous journey from one war to another. Humorous Dot. The Plan for a Picture Book (2010) features a costumed hero from the Agent movies, cloned to make up the workforce of the oil company Well-Well. 

Some of Markkase's works are structured as sculptures with simple and visible technology, light and mechanics. 

The exhibition is a collaboration with the Centre for Creative Photography in Jyväskylä, and the second part of the exhibition, an exhibition of photographs by the versatile artist, will be on display at Galleria Ratamo from 1 February to 26 February 2023.