SOMETHING PERSONAL – Posing New Questions to the MG Collection

Curators: Mirja Ramstedt-Salonen, Jasmin Lehtiniemi, Ilona Juntura.

How is the artist present in the work? What do works of art say about their maker, how can they be read and what can be revealed between the lines? One’s own life history, the social and societal climate and prevailing concepts of art the intersection of social and cultural conditions, making art has always meant the freedom to be oneself and to express one’s thoughts and ideas feelings. This personality can be directly reflected in the artist’s choice of subject matter, sometimes only hinted at, for example through colour or metaphors. For the viewer, the work becomes personal through personal experience and interpretation.

The works in the exhibition are at once intimate and social, bold and sensitive. The past meets the present when classic works from the Maire Gullichsen Art Foundation collection are juxtaposed with the works of the 2018 Young Artist of the Year J. A. Juvan. Boy with a pearl earring (2018). The Art Testers, a group of schoolchildren, bring their own contribution to the exhibition perspective by sharing something personal about themselves.

In the Art Testers project (2017-2020), all eighth-graders in Finland will visit two exhibitions per school year pre-selected art and cultural sites. The project is funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation and Svenska kulturfonden and coordinated by the Finnish Association of Children’s Cultural Centres. www.taidetestaajat.fi

Translated with DeepL.com