PHASE 1. Things are hectic. Both time and artistic work becomes fragmented. Pieces are left to a standstill, suspended in time, unfinished, incomplete, defective. Something is missing, or there’s an abundance of something else.
We work together, sharing a studio. Therefore we are quite familiar with each other’s artistic work from close range, being equally at home with raw, uncompleted works of art lounging around in the studio.
Discussions are an important part of working in shared space. Sometimes one of us needs another point of view on something bugging them, sometimes things we’ve read spark conversations. Often a theme or questions seems to hang in the air, waiting to be talked abut.
For us, artistic process and the creation of works of art is something akin to alchemy. To begin with, you only have a gas-like idea, which then condenses into liquid form as the work progresses. Finally, the idea becomes solid in the finished piece.
We decided to co-curate an art exhibition. We chose works that would converse with or complement each others, pieces that their creator may consider too unfinished, too incomplete, or too personal to want (or dare) have others see them.
In this exhibition works of art previously cast aside meet or penetrate each others in strange ways, perhaps seeking a way of becoming complete with help from without, from other unfinished works.
The thought of addressing incompleteness and the alchemical nature of art in an exhibition arose like things tend to do with our collaborative projects: ideas gradually find their verbal forms from thoughts intertwining like filaments and bubble forth from the depths of a collective mind. Once the process has run its course, there is no recollection of who brought what on the table – and this is how it should be. Satu’s sketchbook has for quite some time contained a dream journal entry: “I want to die incomplete”. The dream itself has faded away, but this one sentence lingered in the studio, demanding to be recognized as something of importance. Why do some works of art linger in the state of being unfinished?
In the heart of this exhibition is the fluidity of the artistic process. Artworks in two, three, four dimensions – breaking the barriers between dimensions – sculptures, videos, paintings, collages and various combinations of the same. Are the works incomplete – or does one simply not want them to be seen? Are they unfinished, or are they in the state of fermentation?
Karhumaa+Skorpio
VAIHE 1 – Elää ja kuolla keskeneräisenä
25.09. – 17.10.2021
Galleria 3H+K, Pori, Finland
This exhibition was supported by
Taike Arts Promotion Centre Finland / Arts Council of Häme.
VAIHE 1 – Elää ja kuolla keskeneräisenä (original title in Finnish)
