It is with great pleasure that we present Jorma Puranen, Heli Hiltunen, Pauliina Pietilä and Juri Markkula in a joint exhibition at Karlavägen 9 in Stockholm. They are four artists who in their different forms of expressions in painting, photography, and sculpture, have made a strong impact on the Nordic and international art scene. In their works there is a lucidity and an expressivity that revolve around lightness and darkness, reflection, and abstraction. In their artistries we can follow how painterly, photographic, and sculptural qualities cross and transcend each other both within and in between their works.
In Jorma Puranen’s photographic works, the Nordic, arctic nature is often in focus, seen and reflected through different layers of history and photographic formations. With a strong poetic sense, both contemporary and historical landscapes are conveyed where narratives of polar expeditions and colonialism lurk beneath the surface. In his often-shimmering photographs of arctic natural landscapes, light and shadow blend together in rich contrasts without conveying an unreflective admiration. Rather, it is about a deeper reflection on the meaning, content, and history of the Nordic.Jorma Puranen, born in 1951 in Pyhäjoki, lives and works in Helsinki. He is educated at the University of the Arts and Design in Helsinki, where he also taught until 1998.
The works of Pauliina Pietilä’s are based on environments, interiors, and details in which she captures a condensed atmosphere and sense of elevated presence. In the paintings, she explores crowded interiors as well as small details in new and unexpected perspectives and scales. Through the renderings of light, shadows and reflections, the environments appear as animated by a human presence. She brings in the viewer to both investigate and be in the middle of a fascinating spatiality in a specific moment and state of mind.Pauliina Pietilä, born in 1982 in Ilmajoki, lives and works in Malmö. She is educated at the Nordic Art School, Kokkola and at Malmö Art Academy.
In Heli Hiltunen’s works, different techniques such as painting, photography and collage are mixed in an organic and dreamlike visual language. The images are often joined by several different elements that seem to float freely between foreground and background. It is a suggestive world of images that emerges as reminiscents of scenes, fragmentary memories, and fugitive dreams. In her work, both the personal and the universal are captured in the associative power of dreams and memories.Heli Hiltunen, born in 1960 in Heinola, lives and works in Helsinki. She is educated at the University of the Art and Design and the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki.
In Juri Markkula’s work, the conditions of light and the spectrum of colors is a central subject. His works can be described as sculptural paintings that are as much three-dimensional objects as a painterly surface. It can also be perceived as a kind of reliefs that catches the viewer’s eye in intense meeting points in the room. Curves and elevations appear on the surface, sometimes delineating a nature: foliage, leaves and twigs. The saturated, distinctive colors bear references both to art historical icons and to contemporary digital color codes. Juri Markkula is born in 1970 in Turku, lives and works on the island of Gotland. He is educated at the Royal Academy of Art in Stockholm.