"Only Lovers began with the idea of theatre. I built myself a nest of hours on the stage: a place where everything is carefully planned, placed and rehearsed. Every character is aware of the viewer, posing with emotions from a script of confessions and fantasies. The scenes are set by the sea, on various beds, with pareidolic jokes making their shy appearances."
"I focused on feeling and evaded meaning. I've searched for ways to imitate tactility by using memory and deduction rather than direct observation. Seeing hair, fabric or fruit take shape this way is what keeps me hooked on painting. It's as close as I can get to what I imagine doing magic feels like. Most of all, I wanted the pure visual pleasure of composing with texture, pattern and color."
The exhibition is Riikka Sormunen's first solo presentation in the United States and first with the gallery. The works stage scenes by the sea and on beds where characters pose aware of viewers, performing confessions and fantasies. The artist prioritizes feeling over explicit meaning, recreating tactility through memory and deduction rather than direct observation. Paintings emphasize hair, fabric, and fruit rendered through texture, pattern, and color. Repetition creates escapism, balancing sensory overload and sensual bliss, while an impulse for honesty contends with an eagerness to please. The compositions are carefully planned, placed and rehearsed, with pareidolic jokes appearing shyly to add subtle visual humor.
Read at Juxtapoz
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]