Galerie Forsblom 10.2.-5.3.2017
Opening with the artist in attendance, 9.2.2017, 5pm-7pm.
The title of Jarmo Mäkilä’s (b. 1952) new Studio exhibition, Peiliin piirretty unikertomus (Dream Story in a Mirror), is a reference to Arthur Schnitzler’s novella Dream Story, also known as Stanley Kubrick’s movie Eyes Wide Shut. Mäkilä offers a visual counterpart to Schnitzler’s dream-like narrative, where the line between reality and fantasy is blurred, rendering the two inseparable. Mäkilä’s boyhood-themed paintings can be interpreted as an investigation of the human condition, his throngs of boys symbolizing a multi-cloned self-image projected into a variety of different situations. His paintings incorporate elements from the artist’s personal history in a boyhood adventure tinged with hints of surrealism and symbolism.
For many years, Mäkilä has been immersed in portraying the psychological landscapes of childhood; youth for him represents a condition of anarchy – a time of unlimited adventure free of duty and responsibility. Adventure is also the leitmotif of the exhibition opening at Galerie Forsblom: the boys in his paintings are lost in their own private worlds, like Peter Pan, or the Lost Boys, who never want to grow up. Mäkilä new bronze sculptures signal a growing interest in three-dimensional expression. The sculptures and paintings chime together in the Studio, forming an integrated spatial and narrative ensemble.
In a career spanning 40 years, Mäkilä has earned himself an established place as one of Finland’s foremost artists. In recent years his boyhood paintings have also attracted widespread international interest. His work has been exhibited in Germany, France, South Korea, Belgium, the United States and the Nordic countries. In 2014 he was the invited artist-in-residence at the Lux Art Institute in California, where he also held a solo exhibition. Mäkilä’s retrospective at the Sara Hildén Art Museum opens in February 2017.