Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Two Signatures: Laura Ukkonen and Nelli Tanner at Galleria Oksasenkatu 11, Helsinki, Aug 4th-26th 2018




TWO SIGNATURES
Nelli Tanner and Laura Ukkonen
4.8.–26.8.2018
open: Tue-Fri 14-18, Sat-Sun 12-16
Oksasenkatu 11, 00100 Helsinki, FIN
More information: Anastasia Isakova, nastya.isakova@gmail.com, 044 9881528
www.oksasenkatu11.fi

Opening Aug 3rd 6-8 pm.

 A sheet. A pillow. Nose. Glasses. A t-shirt. Floor. A door handle. A door handle. A water tab. Water. A towel.
Eyes. Face. A water tab. Water. Soap. Water. A towel. A water tab. Soap. Water. A water tab. A towel. A shower handle. Water. A shampoo bottle. Water. A conditioner bottle. Water. A towel. Lotion.
(Detail from Morning -sound work, Nelli Tanner, 2018)

Home and self-portraits are on close look in videos, drawings and sound works by Nelli Tanner and Laura Ukkonen. The artists’ observations on their everyday life and artistic processes reflect on past fine artists’ works – Elin Danielson-Gambogi (1861-1919) ja Ellen Thesleff (1869-1964) –  whose works depict self-portraits, mother-child images and home artifacts. How is home, taking care of children and artistic work combined? It is presence that is simultaneously being too close and too far.

The artists find Ellen and Elin inspiring in their courage, concentration and travelling in time when women usually stayed home. They took their own space and chose art as a profession. They were driven by a passion to make better, more touching and more beautiful art. Tanner and Ukkonen confront them as colleagues and as women they ponder similar things – updated to contemporary society.

TWO SIGNATURES is the artists’ first exhibition as a work group. It’s based on conversations and drawings sent to each other. Ukkonen works in Helsinki and Tanner in Imatra. The dialogue has developed in phone calls, emails, face to face talks and in skype during the past year. The exhibition space is an experimentation where their art works meet for the first time.

Nelli Tanner (1976) is a visual artist from Imatra who works with jewellery art, installations and public art works.
Tanner has graduated from Gerrit Rietveld Academie (BA) in 2003 and from Saimaa University of Applied Sciences (Master of Culture and Arts) in 2012. Tanner’s works are in collections of CODA museum, Apeldoorn (NL) and Designmuseum (FIN). The work is based on the relationships with our everyday life objects and broken home artifacts. Tanner also depicts our habits with objects by making videos.
Working of the artist has been supported by Arts Promotion Centre Finland.  

Laura Ukkonen (1977) is a visual artist based in Helsinki working with drawings, writing and moving image. She completed her MA in Fine Arts at Aalto University in 2012. Her studies also consist of art history and gender studies in University of Turku (BA) and on-going studies in art education at Aalto University. Ukkonen’s works are landscapes, portraits and interiors based in everyday life documentations reflecting art history and gender studies. Can contemporary emotions be understood in relation to the past?

www.nellitanner.com I email info@nellitanner.com
http://lauraukkonen.blogspot.com  I  email ukkonen.laura@gmail.com