The Blue Planet, Kerava Art Museum

Both sides of the coin, 1973

Yesterday, today, 1970

It was festive when, after a year and a half, I could visit an art museum! The Blue Planet exhibition, is on display at the Kerava Art Museum Sinkka. The exhibition focuses on the works of Kimmo Kaivanto (1932–2012) and their ecological accents. Kaivanto was incredibly ahead of its time, as an important theme in his works as early as in the 1970s was the concern for the state of our planet. Now that climate change is a fact, Kaivanto’s works are more relevant than ever. Another theme that strongly emerges in Kaivanto's art is anti-war. The big paintings were very impressive and they stuck in my mind for a long time.

Duet, 1997

Optimistic mistake 1974

As a museum, Sinkka is pleasant in size and the three floors with different spaces make the exhibition easy to approach. Spacious and fresh. I do not remember whether the museum already had blue walls in some places, or whether they were painted for this exhibition to enhance the so-called Kaivanto blue. And indeed, many of the artist’s works feature a delicate shade of sky blue or other blue shade. The art of Kaivanto is well represented in the exhibition: large-scale oil paintings, smaller serigraphs, a few sculptures and scale models for public spaces. A beautiful and impressive exhibition, definitely worth a look.

When the sea dies II, 1973

Secret meadow, 1973

Monument to Memorials, 1970

A Rising Blue Man Pointing against the Grain,1992

Package on the ice, 1973

Supergrowth, 1973

On a Green Meadow, 1969

The exhibition publication presents both Kaivanto and the five young contemporary artists well and interestingly. Chairman of the Board of the Kimmo Kaivanto Foundation has written Kaivanto's presentation entitled Kimmo Kaivanto - Environmental and political artist. The exhibition also includes a documentary that takes e.g. to the artist's summer place in Arkkusaari and follow his life in Helsinki. In the videos and installations of contemporary artists, amazement in front of man, nature and the universe comes to the fore, and various shades of blue are also repeated in their works.

Laura Könönen's (b. 1980) shiny blue apple (Bite, 2019) decorates the exhibition poster 

and publication. In her installation, she dropped the blue sky as fragments to the ground 

(No Heaven Up in the Sky, 2011). 

Antti Laitinen (b. 1975) built a small island for himself, on which a palm tree swayes. 

In his video (Voyage, 2008) he rows his island on an endless open sea. 

Kim Somervuori (b. 1975) grew up among street culture. His mixed media wall-sized work 

(Life is a huge sketch, 2020) depicts the cacophony of the modern world, I would say.

Maija Närhinen's (b.1967) installation (River, 2015) is an impressive shallow box, 

on the surface of which all the rivers of the world will surely cruise - cut from maps!

Lilli Haapala (b. 1984) has spent a lot of time on the islands in Finland and India. 

Her video ((Expeditions to Places that Don’t Exist, 2020) nicely describes the underwater world, 

perhaps an utopia. The artist was also inspired by Gaston Bachelard's Water and Dreams, 

according to which the elements of nature awaken the imagination.

It was an impressive and memorable exhibition - thank you art! 

A couple more works. Funny "Hommage to Frans (Sillanpää), 1974”.

And finally, a scary and sad sight: the eutrophic sea that Kaivanto painted back in 1973!

Fairway, 1973

 

❤︎❤︎❤︎

#der natur donnerstag #garden affair #gartenglück #image-in-ing #makrotex / june

#saturday’s critters #t in die neue woche #wednesday around the world