This exhibition has passed
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Elina Merenmies
In her distinctive way, Elina Merenmies’ creative practice follows the figurative tradition. She paints in ink or pen on paper, and in oil and tempera on canvas and board. Sometimes she combines acrylic and oil colour. Her formats vary from small drawings to very large-scale paintings. She is already represented in the collection of The Nordic Watercolour Museum and has exhibited in several of the Museum’s group exhibitions.
Her images are unique meeting-places for myth, fairy-tale, dream and hallucination. In her visual language there are traces of the artist’s earlier experiences working with performance art, experimental music and new painting techniques, for example data-assisted painting. In recent years the art practice has evolved further and has been noted on the international art scene. Merenmies creates ambiguous narratives that often appear to be based on the artist’s inner visions. She seeks expressive means, yet also captures meticulous detail. The cast of characters and the stories she portrays reveal a pull towards unconventional contexts and unusual phenomena. Whether she is creating portraits or landscapes, her interest is directed towards an existential darkness.
The images seem to behold humanity’s anxiety, loneliness, its fears and distortedness. Suffering is often elevated as a main theme. Yet the pain is followed by empathy; despair is eased by hope. Merenmies thereby connects with the tradition of martyr imagery in Christian art and is sometimes inspired by biblical narratives. One aspect of her work, then, is that it appeals to the viewer’s compassion. Among her most important literary influences is Edgar Allan Poe and his horror-romantic stories.
Elina Merenmies was born in Espoo in 1967. After studying in Finland, Belgium and the Czech Republic, she is now based and active in Helsinki. Her art is represented in the Arken Museum for Moderne Kunst, the Helsinki City Art Museum and KIASMA among others. With this exhibition, The Nordic Watercolour Museum wishes to present the outstanding technical qualities of Merenmies’s artistic practice and to capture its aesthetic and thematic depths.
participating artists
Pictures from the exhibition
