PARALLELS

Curators: Mirja Ramstedt-Salonen & Anni Venäläinen

Works selected from the collections of the Maire Gullichsen Foundation are paired with contemporary artworks.What meanings arise when a work of art enters into dialogue with another work?

In co-operation with: The Collection of Maire Gullichsen´s Art Foundation

MEDIA RELEASE

A pedagogical exhibition in the series Maire Gullichsen and Modernism
10 June – 11 September 2011
Project Room

“…all creation is a collaboration between intuitive and spontaneous whims and the constructive, organizing control of the brain.”
– Birger Carlstedt

The Parallels exhibition examines works that embody two different approaches to painting. The works of artists striving for analytical, structured, and deliberate image-making are paralleled with those by artists pursuing spontaneous and intuitive expression. These contrasting methods are evident in the composition of the paintings, their treatment of the picture plane and subject matter, and their use of color. The exhibition also compares these different painterly approaches to sculptural expressions exploring form and material.

Artworks are not created in a vacuum but as part of a continuum. Every new work, from the moment it is created, is paralleled with others through various contexts and reflects the artistic perceptions and ideological currents of its time and earlier decades. In a way, every artwork carries within it the presence of all other works.

When displayed in art exhibitions, works are placed into entirely new relationships, where the viewer also plays a part. Just as creating art is a creative process, so too is viewing art. It is a partly conscious, partly intuitive process in which the associations evoked by the works combine with the viewer’s prior experiences and analytical reflection.

Artworks can be paralleled based on color, technique, material handling, method, style, or subject matter. The brought-together works may continue, support, or contrast each other in content. They can engage in dialogue, comment on one another, and together generate meanings that exceed the individual significance of each piece. Sometimes, one plus one becomes more than two.

The works on display from the Maire Gullichsen Art Foundation include:

• Magnus Enckell: Nuorukainen (1916), MG 26
• Birger Carlstedt: Chanson Lyrique ( (1954), MG 12
• Juhana Blomstedt: Substance Blanche (1973–74), MG 10
• Kain Tapper: Kudelma marmorissa (1971), MG 373

Other exhibited works are selected from the collections of the Pori Art Museum.

Translated with ChatGPT