The paintings in this exhibition were born out of wonder. Everything in the world, from the smallest molecule to the largest cluster of stars, is made up of roughly the same ingredients. However, when arranged in different ways, the ingredients form an insanely diverse, chaotic whole. Diversity makes everything feel special.
While painting, I have been thinking about the most everyday basic material – fruits, doors, seen clouds, color combinations that have stuck in my mind, but also concepts that are more difficult for my common sense to understand: the images of the stars taken by space telescopes challenge a person’s perception of himself. The paintings show read, experienced and seen, diary-like material, where painting things of different scale is of equal value and equally interesting.
In recent years, I’ve been interested in a lot of different topics, and actually bounced around a bit between everything possible. As a painter, I work with what I read, what I see – experiences in general – and I try to visualize meaningful entities from them. I often abstract, but at the same time I also paint very traditional landscapes from observation; this way of working helps to be sensitive to changes in nature. For this reason, my paintings always include materials based on observation.
Sampo Sirkka (born 1989) is a visual artist born in Rovaniemi and living in Helsinki. He graduated from the Turku Academy of Arts in 2021.
Featured artwork: Pulses II, 2023, oil on canvas, 80 cm x 60 cm, photo: Sampo Sirkka
Contact info:
Instagram: samposirkka
https://www.samposirkka.com/
Meet Sampo at the opening on Friday 28th of July at 6pm–8pm.
No dress code. Come as you are. Welcome!