The endings of exhibitions are always bittersweet. We have been living with this project for far longer than the seven weeks it has been open to the public. Beginning more than a year ago, we started working through the logistics of the show with Sirpa from her home in Finland, and later when she was in Duluth for the opening which was a fantastic experience. We are excited by the enthusiastic response to these confident and very original abstracted figure paintings.
When Sirpa arrived in the U.S., we had the work arranged and hung, resulting in a new experience for the artist who is typically a participant in her own exhibition installations when in Finland. During the installation, we enjoyed finding new relationships among the paintings and experiencing the power and energy within Sirpa’s work – something that becomes more apparent when viewing the paintings in person.
During this visit, Sirpa enjoyed seeing new parts of the U.S., especially checking out the art scenes in Chicago, Minnesota and Los Angeles. While in Duluth, she did a radio interview – see link here – and was also filmed in the gallery speaking about each piece in the exhibition in both English and Finnish. Those interviews will be available later in the year. For now, when you visit, you can watch a video, documenting when she first started her Transcriptions series. The interview gives great insight into her history, painting process, and thinking.
Sirpa is now back in Finland and hard at work in her studio preparing for an exhibition this fall in Helsinki. We look forward to seeing her new energetic, abstracted figures
Again, we encourage you to come to see the show while it is up through June 1. After that, the paintings will remain in the gallery and still can be seen on our racks through the fall of 2019