Eveliina Hämäläinen: WITH (LUONA)

What does the wrong side of the painting mean? Hämäläinen has been interested for a long time in how observed and experienced are paralleled in the painting process with alternating making visible and painting hidden. In the painting, there is a tension between things that become visible and things that remain hidden. While working, the artist constantly has to think about what he is trying to bring out, what to cover up, and how to act between these choices.

Hämäläinen’s works are very different from each other, as he presents both minimalist paper works and complex paintings at the same time. In the paintings, birds, plants and stylized human figures in the latest works are all together. The first impression is abstract, but a closer look reveals the work as a multi-figured weave. It’s like examining a faded tapestry, or realizing some visual continuity that you don’t notice at first. The visible opens up in new directions. With Hämäläinen’s paintings, this is repeated, because from every observed detail, new things appear. With her new works, Eveliina Hämäläinen opens perspectives on sensation, memory and materiality.

Eveliina Hämäläinen (1984) graduated with a Master of Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts of the University of the Arts in 2013. The artist’s previous solo exhibitions were at Viive Forum Box and Valve Porvoo Art Hall 2022. Hämäläinen’s works are among others in the collections of the State Works of Art Commission and the Koneen Foundation. Luona is his ninth solo exhibition.

FT Juha-Heikki Tihinen